No temporary structures at Azad Maidan, dharnas to be regulated: HC

Mumbai, Nov 9 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today directed that nobody would be allowed to raise temporary structures on the cricket pitches at Azad Maidan maintained by the Mumbai Cricket Association and owned by the State.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice H S Bedi and Justice V M Kanade granted all the prayers of the Mumbai Cricket Association in a public interest litigation filed by them including that people staging dharnas (demonstrations and protests by different groups) would not be allowed beyond the fence erected by them for preserving the cricket pitches.

The court also observed that neither any barricades, poles, stages nor any temporary structures would be allowed on the main grounds. But the medical tents that shall be put up in December for the Mumbai Marathon have been permitted beyond the fence, subject to permissions from the police and MCCI.

Also, vehicles brought into the maidan would not be allowed beyond the boundaries set and the State, which has its programmes on the Independence Day or Maharashtra Day, cannot erect structures, within the pitches, however, subject to the discretion of the police, the court maintained.

The dharnas and morchas, especially huge ones, would be regulated by the police and no persons, protesting or otherwise, would be allowed to stay on the grounds overnight, the court held.

UNI ARM ADG SB GC1904