Bombay High Court Dismisses Plea By Uddhav Faction Against 'Diwali Pahat' To Be Conducted By Shinde Faction

The division bench of Justice RD Dhanuka and Justice Kamal Khata observed that the petitioners did not have necessary permissions, so the question of favouritism by TMC towards Eknath Shinde faction does not arise.

The petition was filed by Mandar Vichare and Kiran Jadhav (president of Uddhav Thackeray's faction's Yuva Sena at Thane) and another trustee of Anand Charitable Trust. They claimed they had been hosting the Diwali Pahat programme along with the Yuva Sena for 7-8 years.

They claimed that in September 19, 2022 Nitin Landge, falsely representing himself as chief of Yuva Sena to TMC sought permission for the event. They claimed that after the split in the Sena, Aditya Thackeray had appointed Kiran Jadhav.

The petitioners alleged that the trust approached the TMC for permission to erect the pandal on October 6, 2022. They were granted permission for the same after obtaining fire, traffic and police NOC on October 10, 2022.

In the meantime, on October 13, 2022 permission was granted to Landge and Satyajeet Landge from CM Eknath Shinde led faction.

The order granting permission to the Shinde led faction is against the principles of natural justice and a gross misuse of the process of law, the plea stated adding that it is unlawful because the application of the Shinde led faction is backdated.

Senior advocate Ram Apte with advocate Harshal Nahata and Advocate Mandar Limaye appearing for the TMC submitted that the Assistant Commissioner of the TMC is bound by the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act which provides that the No-objection certificates have to be obtained from fire department, local police and traffic police for permission for any public event thirty or more days before the ceremony is to take place.

Vichare had only taken NoC from the fire department, hence the permission was denied. TMC gave permission to the Eknath Shinde faction because they had obtained all required NoCs in time.

The court observed after going through the documents submitted by the parties and the arguments made that the petitioner did not fulfil the procedural requirements for obtaining the permission. Hence, the court said that that the TMC did not act in a mala fide manner while denying the permission to Uddhav Thackeray faction.

Case no. – WP/12593/2022

Case title – Mandar Pramod Vichare v. Thane Municipal Corporation

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Bom) 398