Bombay HC permits Uddhav-led Shiv Sena to amend plea to challenge BMC's decision refusing permission for Dussehra rally

The Bombay High Court on Thursday permitted the Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena to amend its petition to challenge the Mumbai civic bodys decision refusing them permission to hold their annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park in MumbaiA division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and Kamal Khata said it would hear the petition on FridayThe court will also hear the application filed by MLA Sada Sarvankar belonging to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shindes faction opposing the Thackerayled Senas petitionSenior counsel Aspi Chinoy appearing for the Thackeray faction told the court that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has this morning passed an order rejecting their application seeking permission to hold the rally on October 5Also Read Mumbai civic body denies nod to both Thackeray and Shinde factions for Dussehra rally at Shivaji ParkThe BMC in its order has only said that they are rejecting the application due to a possible law and order situation as the other faction Shindes side has also applied for the same Chinoy saidHe then sought to amend their petition to challenge the corporations decisionSenior counsel Milind Sathe appearing for the BMC opposed this and said the petition has become infructuous as it only sought for the BMC to take a decision on their application and this has been doneThe bench however noted that the petition has also sought the court to grant permissionThis is a wider prayer according to us Hence we are allowing the petitioner to amend the prayer the court saidThe Thackerayled Shiv Sena in its plea had said the party was constrained to approach the HC as the Mumbai civic body had not taken a decision on their applications submitted in August seeking permission for the rallySarvankar in his application claimed the dispute on who represents the real Shiv Sena was pending before the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India and hence the high court should not hear or pass any directions in the petition hereSarvankar claimed he belonged to the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde who is the Mukyaneta of the real Shiv Sena and he has the majority support in the partyThe MLA said the Thackeray faction under the garb of this petition was trying to lay claim on the Shiv SenaThe Thackerayled Sena in its plea said the party was holding the Dussehra rally every year at the Shivaji Park since 1966 and the civic body had always permitted itOnly in 2020 and 2021 the rally could not be held due to the COVID19 pandemic it saidThe petition said in 2016 the state government had designated Shivaji Park as a recreational ground to be used only for sports activitiesAt that time the government had earmarked a few days in the year for nonsports activities and the Dussehra rally was also included in those days it saidThe Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi government which comprised the Shiv Sena NCP and Congress collapsed in June this year after a revolt led by Eknath Shinde against the Sena leadershipShinde was later sworn in as the chief minister with BJPs Devendra Fadnavis as his deputyBoth the Thackerayled Sena and the rival group led by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde had sought permission to hold their Dusshera rallies at the Shivaji ParkThe BMC on Thursday refused permission to both the factionsAs an alternative the two factions had also applied for permission to hold the rally at the MMRDA ground at the Bandra Kurla Complex BKC in MumbaiLast week the Shinde faction got the nod for holding a rally at the BKCThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever