Mumbai: The Bombay High Court yesterday ordered Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai to surrender 20 acres of land allotted to his film school Whistling Woods International Institute, Research Centre and Studios (WWIIRCS) at Goregaon in north Mumbai, to the Maharashtra government.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole directed Ghai to vacate 14.5 acres of area immediately so that the state government could take possession, while the remaining 5.5 acres of land where the institute building is located, be handed over by July 31, 2014.
The HC bench verdict follows a public suit filed by five agriculturists from Latur and Osmanabad districts who alleged that then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had abused his power while allotting land to the filmmaker.
"In the interest of justice, we direct respondent number 3 and 4 (Ghai and Whistling Woods) to vacate 14.5 acre area immediately which shall be resumed by the state government. The remaining 5.5 acre where the institute is constructed shall be taken over by the government on July 31, 2014 by when all the ongoing courses at the film institute shall be completed," the judges observed.
Reacting to the verdict, Ghai said: "We respect the high court judgment and we will appeal to the Supreme Court for our lawful rights."
