Ghai to return Filmcity land
Filmmaker Subhash Ghai has to hand over the entire 20 acres of land he possesses in the Goregaon Filmcity as the Bombay high court hearing a PIL asked him to do so. However, the HC order is looked upon by many as a scathing indictment against former chief minister and now Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
The HC directed Mr Ghai to hand over 14.5 acres of the total 20 acres of land to the state with immediate effect. The land was allotted to Mukta Arts land allotted for Mr Ghai’s ambitious film institute, Whistling Woods International, located in the midst of the Filmcity. While the open land will be surrendered immediately, the remaining 5.5 acres of land on which a studio and the institute is located will have to be handed over by July 31, 2014.
The filmmaker had entered in an agreement with the state government in the year 2000 for establishment of Whistling Woods International. The institute, an undertaking by Mukta Arts was to provide education in technical and creative aspects of filmmaking and television. It was agreed that in lieu of the land Mr Ghai’s company was to pay an annual rent of `5.3 crore from the year 2000 since the company entered into the joint venture with the state government to start the film institute.
“In the interest of justice, we direct respondent number 3 and 4 (Ghai and Whistling Woods) to vacate 14.5-acre area immediately which shall be resumed by the state government. The remaining 5.5 acres, where the institute is constructed shall be taken over by the government on July 31, 2014 by when all the ongoing courses at the film institute shall be completed,” observed the division bench.
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