Mumbai: In a relief to the owners of
Bharatmata theatre, Maharashtra state monitoring committee
today directed the National Textile Corporation (NTC) to
withdraw the eviction notice issued to the cinema hall.
The committee was formed under the chairmanship of
retired Justice V B Chauhan under the Development Control (DC)
Rules for monitoring and development of mill lands in the
city.
NTC had in 2002 issued an eviction notice to the
theatre, following which Kapil Bhopatkar, the owner of the
over 70-year-old cinema hall which screens only Marathi
movies, approached the city civil court.
The theatre is located on the land owned by NTC at
Lalbaug in central Mumbai.
The court, however, dismissed Bhopatkar`s appeal in
January this year after which he filed an application before
the state monitoring committee.
"The committee today directed NTC to withdraw the
eviction notice issued to Bharatmata within four weeks and if
it fails to do so then the committee would pass a blanket
order prohibiting development on all the mill lands owned by
NTC," Bhopatkar`s lawyer Nimesh Mehta told PTI.
He said, NTC wants to build residential and commercial
properties on the land as it is a prime locality. "But one has
to consider that the theatre, which was established in 1936,
is one of the cultural hubs of the city," the lawyer said.
-PTI
