The Bombay High Court today asked Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file an affidavit within a month on a PIL alleging that illegal cricket coaching clubs have come up at sprawling Shivaji Park ground thereby depriving common man from playing the game.
The PIL, filed by a local resident from Matunga, C R Jaya Sukin, claimed that 7 to 8 cricket clubs have sprung up at Shivaji Park without permission to impart training to its members.
These illegal cricket clubs occupied the ground almost every day except Sundays.
"They have captured the entire ground and deployed guards to protect the pitches put up by them on the ground, thus depriving the common man from playing cricket there. The Municipal Corporation has no control and is unable to remove them from the ground," the PIL alleged.
People from far off places such as Andheri and Borivali came all the way to Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai to play but return disappointed, the PIL said.
This prompted Justice Kanade to remark that "Even I used to play cricket at Shivaji Park during my younger days and there was no one to obstruct me from playing".
Counsel for BMC argued that the civic body had given permission to only two cricket coaching clubs by giving them 800 square feet space each, whereas other clubs have come up illegally.
