CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a petition filed by the Madras Gymkhana Club seeking to restrain the government authorities from damaging the golf course located in the premises of the Madras Race Club (MRC) at Guindy in Chennai.
Finding that the petitioner-club does not hold any rights on the said land which was actually leased out to the MRC, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed the petition for want of merits.
He noted that the application of the club was dismissed already by taking into consideration the land in question belongs to the government and the lessee (MRC) and lease was terminated and the plea that it co-existed with MRC does not confer any legal rights or locus standi.
The judge said that at the end of the day, it is Government land which was given for sporting purposes with a rider that even the Collector of Chengalpattu can enter if there is any public purpose involved.
“There is a grave need and dearth of water bodies in the city of Chennai. This property is located in the middle of the city with a humongous number of residential colonies and commercial buildings surrounding the same. It will now serve as an alternative for the rainwater to get stored, preventing inundation of many areas. It will improve the groundwater table,” he said.
The judge asked, “When such is the public purpose with which it is taken, it is for the members of the petitioner Club to ask themselves, can they not play Golf in the other Golf Clubs that are available, and can they not use any other premises for their recreational Club activities/bar?”
Senior counsel V Raghavachari, representing the petitioner-club, submitted that the lease termination notice was issued to the MRC and neither any notice nor the GO was served on it before the respondent authorities proceeded to seal the gate leading to the golf course barring entry to tis members in September last year. No procedure established by the law followed.
The petitioner-club was in possession of the golf course for over 140 years. The authorities dug up trenches by damaging the golf course acting in a manner to overreach the jurisdiction of the court, he said.
Additional Advocate General J Ravindran, appearing for the government, contended that the petitioner does not hold right, title or interest over the demised premises. The entire land measuring about 160 acre was leased out only to the MRC which seemingly granted an unlawful permission to the Gymkhana Club for the golf course.
He said the government resumed the demised land in entirety on September 9, 2024 by following due process and civil suit filed by the petitioner-club is pending.
Ravindran noted that a petition filed by the petitioner-club seeking to dispense with pre-suit notice, with the same prayer, in connection with a civil suit was dismissed by the court and so, has no locus standi to file a fresh petition with the same prayer.