While questioning the motive behind “singling out” filmmaker Subhash Ghai for setting up an institute in Film City in Mumbai, the Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for allocating 20 acres of land for his project in 2004 when he was chief minister of Maharashtra.
The top court said Ghai was treated like a “blue-eyed” boy by the Deshmukh government and the rules were bend to facilitate allocation of land to the TV and film institute sought to be established by his company Mukta Arts.
“One cannot be treated as blue-eyed boy for which chief minister can bend or bypass rules to give away the land of the state,” a bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad said, while brushing aside plea of Mukta Arts’ counsel Mukul Rohtagi that the project was aimed at promoting art and culture and served a larger public interest.
Rejecting Ghai’s plea that his institution should not be relocated, the top court said there was nothing wrong in the Bombay high court’s order quashing the allotment of land to Mukta Arts, finding that the allocation process lacked “transparency”.
The bench said that the project was pending before the government for several years and none of Mr Deshmukh’s predecessors had approved it.
“You are a great filmmaker, but there are (other) greater filmmakers also. Why you have been chosen? There must be transparency (in the land allocation process),” the bench observed while refusing to take into account Mr Rohtagi’s contention that Ghai has already spent `50 crores on the project and the land should at least be given to him on lease.
The SC said that the only option left for him to get the allocation was that if the land is offered for open bidding, he could participate in it and get it on competitive price at the market rate. The HC had quashed the allocation following a PIL by Rajendra Sontakke and four others.