The Bombay High Court on Thursday said it expects the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai civic body to maintain status quo on the decision to develop a 120-acre theme park at Mahalaxmi Race Course till it hears a petition by a city resident who has challenged the move, calling it illegal.
The petition by one Satyen Kapadia, who claims to be an environmentalist and has sought quashing of the controversial decision, was mentioned before a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata seeking urgent hearing.
The bench, which posted it for hearing on January 24, said while it was not passing any order, it expected all parties concerned to maintain status quo on the issue.
“We trust that none of the entities involved are going to do anything to precipitate the issue till then, since petitions are filed. Don`t tell us this is fait accompli (something that has been done already) on that day. We will take a very dim view of that,” the bench observed.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the state government, and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)`s advocate Joel Carlos said they would respond to the plea on the next date of hearing.
Kapadia, in his plea, said the decision to convert or use part of the sprawling horse racing track in Mahalaxmi, an upscale area in south Mumbai, as a theme park was “arbitrary, capricious and patently illegal”.
The petition claimed that last month the Chief Minister, the BMC commissioner and the chairman of the Royal Western India Turf Club Ltd (RWITC), which operates the race course after the land was leased out to it by the civic body, held a meeting where the decision was taken.
Kapadia argued that the race course, owned by the state government, was one of the few remaining large open spaces in the metropolis and converting it into a theme park would be an environmental disaster.
The plea has sought that the court quash the decision to convert the race course into a theme park and direct the BMC to retain the land as an open space accessible to members of the public.
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