Marine Drive gym: HC seeks reply from MCGM

The Bombay High Court today directed Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to file an affidavit in reply to a public interest litigation challenging the permission granted to an open-air gym on the Marine Drive promenade in south Mumbai.
The petitioner Vijay Yadav claims that the area and particularly the promenade where the gym stands is a declared heritage precinct and no construction is permissible there.
Also, the footpath is meant for walking but the civic body is supporting the gym, constructed by D N Fitness which has links with Shiv Sena, the ruling party in MCGM, he says.
The gym, which has created a controversy, was inaugurated by Shiv Sena youth wing chief Aditya Thackeray.

Petitioner's lawyer advocate Ashok Sarogi stated that in 2013 a former Congress MP had been denied permission to put up a gym on the ground that it was a heritage precinct.
The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice A K Menon directed the civic body to file reply by August 6.