Bombay high court tells Maharashtra government to file reply on review petition filed by Subhash Ghai

The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the state to file an affidavit in reply by July 28, to the review petition filed by Mukta Arts, which was allotted 20 acres of land in Goregaon to build the Whistling Woods institute. The HC had, in 2012, scrapped the allotment and directed the institute to handover possession to the state government.

The HC order was confirmed by the SC and the land has to be surrendered by July 31. The apex court had then also pulled up deceased ex-CM of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, for giving the prime land to Ghai. It had said that there was "lack of transparency in the allotment" as three chief ministers before Deshmukh had not cleared the project.

Advocate General Darius Khambata appearing for the state, informed the HC that it would have to file a reply to the review petition. The court though, refused to allow the intervention application filed by the students of the Whistling Woods institute, who prayed that their careers were at stake.

The HC had scrapped the allotment of the land while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Rajendra Sontakke and four other agriculturists of Latur and Osmanabad. They had accused Deshmukh of "gross abuse of power" while allotting the land to Ghai.

Allowing the PIL, the HC had referred to a CAG report which said that the land ought to have been valued at Rs31.20 crore, as opposed to the Rs3 crore valuations done by the Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) Ltd.