HC dismisses plea of Uddhav-led faction members seeking nod for Diwali event

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by three members of the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena faction seeking permission to hold their annual Diwali Pahat a musical programme in Maharashtras Thane districtA division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and Kamal Khata said the plea was devoid of merits and hence dismissedThe Thane Municipal Corporation TMC has given permission to members of another group which is part of the Sena camp led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to hold this programme at the same location in the city neighbouring MumbaiThe petition filed by Mandar Vichare Sudhir Belose and Janak Sanghvi through their Anand Charitable Trust challenged an October 13 order of the TMC granting permission to the Shinde faction for erecting a pandal and stage in Thane after a preliminary permission was granted to the petitioners on October 10The impugned order is exfacie illegal and abuse of process of law nullity void against the principles of equity and natural justice a gross abuse of the powers and jurisdiction a gross misuse of the process of law arbitrary and unlawful the petition saidAlso read Maharashtra govt and police must help and recognise NGOs Bombay High CourtIt claimed the permission to the other faction was granted surreptitiouslyThe petitioners said they were getting permission to organise Diwali Pahat at the location in question since 201617 therefore they had every right to do it at the same place because a large number of Thane residents attend itThey also claimed that the TMC was acting at the behest of the ruling Sena faction of Shinde and the BJPThe entire exercise done by the authorities is completely motivated to harass the petitioners and out of political rivalry the plea saidThe other group members who were granted permission told the HC that they have been conducting the musical event for the last 10 years and the permission they had received was in their individual capacityTMCs counsel Ram Apte meanwhile pointed out that as per provisions of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act the application for conducting the programme was required to be submitted 30 days prior to the eventThe permission would then be considered once the requisite no objection certificates NOCs received from fire traffic and police departments are submittedApte told the court that the persons who have been granted permission applied on September 19 and their application included NOCs from all the departments concernedThe Thackeray faction members had applied on October 3 and their application included only one NOC the TMCs counsel saidThe high court bench after perusing all the documents submitted before it said it does not find any malafide on the TMCs part whileThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever