Can't afford MMRDA ground for Dussehra meet, Sena tells HC

Shiv Sena today informed the Bombay High Court that it can not afford the MMRDA ground in suburban Bandra for its annual Dussehra rally, for which the civic body is seeking a fee of Rs 70 lakh.
Sena, which has been holding the rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai for over 40 years, was directed by the High Court last year to look for alternative site as Shivaji Park area falls in 'silence zone'.
For any function to be held at the Park, High Court's permission is necessary.
"We had approached MMRDA for permission to hold the rally at the Bandra plot. While the authority has granted the permission, it has laid down certain terms and conditions. The authority is also charging Rs 70 lakh for the five-hour rally which is too costly," senior counsel V A Thorat, Shiv Sena's lawyer, said in the court today.

He also said that MMRDA ground was not close to railway station, and many people would not be able to reach there.
The rally is scheduled for October 14.
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha today issued notices to the NGO Wecom Trust (on whose petition rallies were banned at Shivaji Park), the municipal corporation, MMRDA and the police, seeking replies by October 9.
Meanwhile, another petition, filed by the Mumbai unit of Congress and seeking permission to hold a rally at the Shivaji Park on the party's foundation day (December 28), was posted for hearing on October 11. Court sought replies from civic authorities in this case too.