Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to be present during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed against the club.
Debu Datta and four other residents of Tollygunge have filed the PIL, complaining that RCGC had closed Prince Ghulam Mohammad Shah Road and Graham Road passing through the club premises.
Petitioners alleged that the club authorities had on May 14, 2006, illegally erected a 30-foot-high fence at the mouths of the two roads without issuing any public notice.
Petitioners also pointed out that people had been using the 2.5-km-long Y-shaped road, which connects Tollygunge with Lake Gardens and mentioned as a vital public road in the KMC map of 1928, for the last 200 years. Also, there is a mosque along this road. The petitioners further claimed that people had been denied proper access to these roads.
The court had earlier directed the parties concerned to file affidavits. Though RCGC and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority have filed theirs, KMC was yet to do so.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Kishor Datta submitted that the RCGC authorities had violated Section 133 of the KMC Act by blocking roads without issuing a public notice.
Source:The Times Of India,12-04-08
