The Goa bench of Bombay High Court on Friday ordered that the upcoming Sunburn Klassique music festival should not be permitted till arrears owed by the organisers are paid to the state government.
The bench of Justice M S Sonak was hearing a petition filed by Congress leader Trajano D'Mello.
The electronic dance music festival is scheduled to be held between December 27-29 at Vagator in North Goa.
"The court has said that if Sunburn is held without recovering dues, the (Goa) directorate of tourism would be held for contempt of court," advocate Rohit Braz D'Sa, representing D'Mello, told reporters here.
"When the petition came up on Friday, the court directed that Rs 75 lakh would have to be given as part of earlier dues and Rs 1.50 crore has to be deposited in the form of security," he said.
He said the court has also ordered that if the due amount is secured, then permissions which Sunburn organisers are supposed to get would have to be considered within 48 hours.
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D'Sa said this is the third time the petitioner had approached High Court demanding that Sunburn organisers be made to pay the dues which they owe to the state government.
"In 2014, we had approached HC saying Sunburn was given permission despite arrears not being paid to the state government. HC passed order saying the arrears be recovered by the state government. In 2016, we once again went to HC on the same ground," he said.
"In February, 2019, we filed a petition informing the court that arrears were not recovered. At that juncture, Rs two crore came to be adjusted, which were lying with the government of Goa, in the form of security," the lawyer said.
The organisers still owed Rs 1.38 crore to the government, to recover which the petitioner moved HC on December 17 this year, he added.
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