HC nod to Christmas music fest on larger area at Chowpatty

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed organisers of a Christmas Music Festival a larger space on Girgaum Chowpatty for the event on December 10. The court was hearing petitions by Prabhu Yeshu Janmotsav, a public charitable trust, and Indian Church Trustees, who urged for allotment of a bigger area than the 4,180-sq metre space earlier allotted to them.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and S C Chandak passed an interim order in review petitions seeking modification of the June 21, 2018 order of the HC which permitted an area of 4,180 square metres to the organisers and sought a larger area at Chowpatty for the event.

The interim application by the Trust claimed that two other festivals, Ram Leela and Krishna Leela, are also organised at the Chowpatty, and that they are spread over several days, unlike the Christmas Music Festival, which is only a one-day event. Last year, the HC had granted permission allowing the music event on a 15,000- square metre area.

The bench questioned the BMC as to what was the difficulty in following the same order and it could not understand the opposition from the authority.