Another lease of life for Whistling Woods International?

Subhash Ghai has got some reprieve On Wednesday evening Bollywoodrsquos showman heaved a sigh of relief when the Bombay High Court admitted his review petition and allowed him to continue operations in his film school Whistling Woods International WWI till a verdict is arrived at in the caseFrom left Screenwriter Javed Siddique acting legend Kamal Haasan filmmaker Subhash Ghai and Rahul Puri MD Mukta Arts at a convocation ceremony at Whistling Woods International earlier this month PicSatayjit DesaiWhile no one from Ghairsquos office was available for comment sources say that the court has admitted his review petition and allowed WWI to continue with its operations on its Film City campus The students are said to have welcomed this decision and are relieved that their courses will not be hampered nowFrom left Designer Neeta Lulla filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane actorfilmmaker Roshan Abbas Rahul Puri MD Mukta Arts and media consultant Tarun Tripathi during a panel discussion at the instituteWhen contacted Mangesh Mohite Joint Managing Director Film City Studio confirmed the news He said ldquoThe court has granted Ghai interim relief by allowing him to operate on his WWI campus mdash which stands on a 55 acre land mdash till the verdict is announcedfrom left Filmmaker Subhash Ghai is seen here with Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan flute maestro Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and santoor exponent Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Last year they were given lifetime achievement awards by Ghairsquos instituteHe added ldquoThe court has asked them to deposit around Rs 10 crore out of which Rs 138 crore has to be paid within the next 10 daysIt may be noted here that Film City Studio served a notice to WWI on July 14 asking them to vacate the premises and pay a retrospective rent amounting to Rs 91 crore Ghai then moved the High Court seeking stay on vacating the premises by filing a review petition and pleading the court to save his film schoolThe Whistling Woods International campusStar supportIt may be pointed out that in the last few days the industry had come out in support of Ghai While Karan Johar and Hirith Roshan made a lastditch effort to request the intervention of Prithviraj Chavan Shyam Benegal too had written to the Maharashtra CM On July 21 the filmmaker wrote to Prithviraj Chavan pleading to not close down the instituteIn the letter he wrote ldquoTo close down an internationally recognised and reputed educational institution of the country apart from FTII would be an unimaginable disasterrdquo He also wrote ldquoIt is difficult to understand why an institution that has received support from the Maharashtra government is now being treated so summarily It brings credit neither to the Maharashtra government nor the nation as a whole It seems unjust to close down what is surely among the best educational institutes devoted to the study of cinema and TVrdquoBrief history of the caseIn 2000 the Film City Board passed two resolutions accepting and approving the WWI concept and project in principle An MOU was signed in September that year The bhoomi poojan for the building was done in 2001In 2003 a PIL was filed against the government for granting this land with procedural mistakes The Comptroller and Auditor General of India CAG alleged that the land price was undervalued Ghai claimed that the land was neither sold nor transferred but was granted to be used for a specific purpose under a joint venture with the government Ghai was then sent a notice to stop construction on the remaining 15 acres of the open land in Film City and an affidavit was filed by the government to modify the JV into a lease model where Ghai would pay an annual rentSix years later Ghai was told by the government that it could not find any provision to accept their lease model Ghai claimed to have spent around R80 crore on the project and that he was in debt upto Rs 52 crore A PIL was then filed against the then chief minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh by farmers from Latur for misusing his power in allotting the land to WWI in 2000On his part Ghai pleaded innocent in court but the High Court pointed out procedural mistakes by the government and asked Mukta Arts to return the 145 acres of vacant landThe institute was asked to vacate the remaining 55 acres on which it stands by July 31 2014 In response Ghai moved the Supreme Court but was met with rejection after which he went back to the Bombay High Court