HC restrains human rights commission from hearing matter on Mahalaxmi racecourse

The Bombay High Court has restrained the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission MSHRC from hearing a matter pertaining to the lease renewal of the 220acre Mahalaxmi Racecourse in central Mumbai noting it was prima facie unable to see how the commission could have taken suo motu on its own cognizance of such an issueA division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale passed the order on March 8 on a petition filed by the Principal Secretary of the Maharashtra governments Urban Development Department UDD against the order passed by the commission on February 17The MSHRC in an order had imposed a cost of Rs 10000 each on the states Chief Secretary the BMC commissioner the Principal Secretary UDD and others for their failure to submit facts about the renewal of the lease of the Mahalaxmi RacecourseThe high court stayed any further enquiry or hearing of proceedings in the matter before the commission pending the final disposal of the state governments petitionAlso Read Tyre burst human negligence not act of God says Bombay HC rejecting insurance firms plea against compensationWe are prima facie unable to see how such an action is maintainable before the State Human Rights Commission or how it could have been initiated suo motu We therefore grant interim relief the court saidThe commission had initiated proceedings on the issue of nonrenewal of the lease of the Mumbai Racecourse landThe racecourse was given to the Royal Western India Turf Club RWITC in May 1994 on a lease which expired in May 2013 but it was never renewedIn December 2022 the commission imposed a cost of Rs 10000 each on all the respondents for seeking adjournment which was paidWhen a similar order was passed on February 17 2023 the state government moved the high courtThe government claimed it was entirely unclear how a contractual matter between the government or the BMC Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the RWITC could lie within the jurisdictional remit of the MSHRCThe HC posted the matter for further hearing on March 15The state government is the owner of the racecourse land and on its behalf the BMC collects rent and takes decisions on lease renewal The BMC cannot collect rent from the RWITC before deciding on lease renewalThe commission while taking cognizance of newspaper reports on the same had noted that the laxity of government officials allowed the racecourse management to use the 220acre land for free since 2013This 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