The Bombay High Court today asked the Maharashtra government and the local civic body to explain under what provisions they had leased an area measuring 11,551 square metres for one rupee per annum for the construction of a memorial for Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray.
A bench of justices Naresh Patil and Rajesh Ketkar was presiding over the final hearing of two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed earlier this year by two social activists opposing the construction of the memorial.
The bench has now directed the state to file an affidavit within two weeks clearing its stand on the issue.
"The state and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will have to explain to us under what provisions did they lease the land for just rupee one. Can this be done as per existing statutes?" the bench said.
As per the BMC's admission in court, the Thackeray Memorial Trust headed by Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray was constituted and a plot of land in Dadar, which currently hosts the Mayor's bungalow, belonging to the BMC was given to the trust on lease for construction of a memorial for Bal Thackeray.
In April this year, the Maharashtra legislative assembly decided to lease the land to the trust at the rate of rupee one per annum for 30 years.
The PILs alleged that the approval for the memorial violates a previous Supreme Court order and a circular issued by the Centre that prohibits the conversion of government bungalows into memorials.
The pleas claim that if such a memorial is to be constructed at all, it must be funded by the followers of Bal Thackeray and not by taxpayers' money.
The state government, however, has maintained that the plot was chosen for the memorial after due deliberation.
"A high-level committee was set up in 2014. The committee held various meetings and explored the possibility of setting up such a memorial at various places including the premises in contention - the mayor's bungalow. The said property belongs to the BMC and this proposal was accepted by the government," an affidavit filed by the state last month in the HC contended.
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