Bengaluru: With few options at their disposal, the Bangalore Turf Club on Monday filed a writ petition with the High Court of Karnataka seeking permission to conduct on-course and off-course racing/betting this summer season as the State Government has refused to renew the licence since April.
Not only the BTC, which has been unable to come to a compromise with the State Government on getting the licence renewed, it has been reliably learnt that the Karnataka Trainers Association too have filed a writ petition for the conduct of the summer season which was scheduled to commence last Saturday. The Karnataka Race Horse Owners Association too are reportedly mulling filing a similar petition.
“Yes, we were left with no choice but to approach the High Court,” a highly-placed source at the BTC told DH on condition of anonymity. “We tried our best negotiating with the State Government since the beginning of April. But the CM (Siddaramaiah), who also heads the finance department, has refused to renew our licence.
“Initially the reason given to us was elections and his busy schedule which we understood. We waited until the polling was over in Karnataka but still the impasse has continued. There’s a lot of livelihood at stake and a majority of them at the club felt going the legal way was the only option left. It’s not just us who are impacted because of the licence not being renewed but the trainers, owners, jockeys and workers at the club as well.”
According to people privy to the matter, the primary reason why the State Government is stubborn in not renewing the licence is because of BTC’s refusal to withdraw a case it has filed against it at the Supreme Court. The State Government wants BTC to shift its premises from the current location on Race Course Road to the outskirts after the lease period expired a little over a decade ago.
BTC, on the other hand, prefers to continue its operations at the heritage property handed over to it more than a century ago on lease by the then Maharaja of Mysore. The matter has been listed for hearing since January but has never come up. The State Government, it's learnt, is not willing to negotiate until BTC withdraws the case in the SC.