High time govt gives equal importance to sports than 'commercialisation mantra': Bombay HC

Mumbai: Sports play a significant role in the development of people and nation and it is high time the government gives it equal importance than the "commercialisation and concretisation mantra", the Bombay High Court has said.

A progressive state can never be oblivious of such needs of the society, a division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain on Monday.

It quashed the Maharashtra government's 2021 decision to relinquish 20 acre land in Navi Mumbai for a 'Government Sports Complex' and shifting it to a remote place at Mangaon in Raigad district, 115 km from the existing site.

In 2003, the land was earmarked for the sports complex. In 2016, the planning authority allotted a portion of it to a private developer for residential and commercial purposes.

The HC said the authorities are required to be alive to not only the present but the future rights of citizens for open places, playgrounds and sports complexes.

"We may observe that considering the present plight of metro cities as Mumbai, Navi Mumbai or the adjoining areas have developed further concretization and commercial exploitation on lands earmarked for such public facilities certainly needs to be curtailed," it said.

The bench said the Government Sports Complex was of paramount importance to children and youth, who form a large mass of population in urban areas, and it was wholly against the public interest to deprive them of best sporting facilities.

"Sports play a significant role in the development of citizens and the nation and it is high time the government also becomes conscious of this fact. It is high time that these issues are also considered to be of equal importance than the commercialisation and concretisation mantra," the HC said.

The order was passed in a public interest litigation filed by the Indian Institute of Architects, Navi Mumbai Centre, challenging the state government's decision to shift the sports complex from Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai to Mangaon.

The plea also challenged the decision taken by the City and Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (CIDCO) allotting part of the land to a private developer for residential and commercial development.

The court quashed the government's decision to shift the proposed sports complex and directed the CIDCO to hand over the land to the government forthwith.

The bench, however, stayed its order for four weeks after the CIDCO sought time to file an appeal against it in the Supreme Court.

The HC said the entire approach of the government and other authorities has been nebulous to the importance which sports have achieved in modern times.

"A progressive state can never be oblivious of such needs of the society and more particularly, from the international perception. It ought to be the solemn obligation of a welfare state to encourage youth and children towards sports. This also contributes in creating a robust and healthy society," it said.

The Maharashtra government's decision to relinquish the land in Ghansoli and shift the proposed sports complex to a remote area in Mangaon was against the "public interest", it added.

It was a decision to promote commercial utilisation of the said land by making it available for allotment to developers whose appetite for development of lands and converting cities into "urban jungles" would remain unparallelled, the court said.

"It is for the government and the planners to ponder to the extent such concretisation can be stretched, more particularly, in the absence of supporting infrastructure and by sacrificing public amenities of utmost necessity being made available for the future generation, like gardens, playgrounds, recreation parks and sports complexes," it said.

The court also wondered whether the existing concretisation is not enough and to what extent public bodies would continue to exploit government lands for the purpose of revenue.

There would be gross failure on part of the government and other public bodies if such vital issues are overlooked and/or intentionally sought to be buried in creating urban jungles, it said.

If these issues are not taken seriously then it would result in grave injustice and taking away of the fundamental rights of citizens not only in the present but also for the future, the court said.

"If we do not have a foresight, concern and care for the future rights of the citizens, and from all possible perspectives, we are abdicating the constitutional principles which recognise the overall development of an individual," it said.

The bench said it was "unthinkable" that the land which was reserved for the facility in 2003 can remain unutilised for 18 years.

"We are of the clear opinion that the decision of the state government, purportedly, relinquishing the CIDCO's land at Ghansoli, to be not utilised for the Government Sports Complex, is brazenly illegal and arbitrary, looked at from any angle," HC said.

The court wondered if the authorities, who are in control of planning and development of cities and towns, are at all conscious that the rights of the future generation also need to be protected and accounted for.

"We are clearly of the opinion that these are fundamental rights which are guaranteed to citizens for all times to come, to have appropriate and better living conditions, which would include the state and the planning authorities providing open spaces, gardens, playgrounds, which would include government sports complexes," it said.