Supreme Court to Maharashtra government: Companies against Bombay High Court order refusing cancellation of lease

The petition alleged that Wockhardt is illegally running the hospital on the plot without the permission of NIT, though the plot was to be used for promoting Hindi as per the conditions of lease allotment.

The SC was hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by NGO Citizen Forum for Equality, challenging the “illegal continuance of lease in favour of Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha”. It will hear the case next on July 4.(Represntational Image)

The Supreme Court has issued notices to state government officials against a September 7, 2016 order of the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench, which refused to cancel the lease of a plot allotted to the Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha in the city by the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT).

A bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R Bhanumati issued notices to the Maharashtra government through the chief minister, secretary (Urban Development), director (Town Planning, Pune), deputy director (Town Planning, Nagpur), former chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Nagpur municipal commissioner and the NIT chairman.

It also issued notices to the Maharashtra Rashtrabhasha Sabha thorough its vice-president Girish Gandhi, Prajakta Developer (Nagpur), SMG Hospitals Private Limited (Nagpur) as well as its chairman Datta Meghe and director Sagar Meghe, Wockhardt Hospitals Private Limited (Mumbai) and the CBI director.

The NGO, through its president Madhukar Kukde, has contended that the HC had erroneously refused cancellation of lease by ignoring “largescale illegalities” through which the sabha has virtually handed over the plot — measuring 1.14 acres and worth crores — to SMG hospital after it entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with Wockhardt hospitals.

The petition alleged that Wockhardt is illegally running the hospital on the plot without the permission of NIT, though the plot was to be used for promoting Hindi as per the conditions of lease allotment.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram