‘Convention center rented to private school’
Udaipur : A double bench of Rajasthan High Court at its principal seat at Jodhpur, ordered stay on any construction in Khelgaon premises (Neerja modi School) in Chitrakoot Nagar here. The High Court in its order dated September 10, also asked for notices to be issued to the Chief Secretary, Udaipur Collector, UIT, Chairman Raj State Sports Board, Jaipur, CBSE-Ajmer, Maharana Pratap Khelgaon Society and Ms S. P. Enterprise on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the matter of illegal use of a public property i.e the convention center for commercial purpose and further sublet of the center to run a private school there. On behalf of the petitioner Manoj Agarwal, a resident of Udaipur, advocate Sajjan Singh Rathore held that the convention center at Udaipur was developed on the land of the sports board and the same was allotted by the UIT, therefore at the first instance any development on it becomes the property of the sports board.
That the land being a public land and was allotted for sports activities only but if at all the convention center was developed than the same should be used for the public and not for commercial activities for giving profit to any individuals. The object and purpose for which the convention center was developed was to provide a facility to the public at large for meetings, conventions, conferences, exhibitions, teaching-training programs, auspicious and cultural programs and incidental activities related to these permissible activities.
That all these objects and purpose were the component which were terms of the tender on which the convention center was to be given for running these permissible activities on a monthly rental basis. But all these components which were there and which were the object and purpose of developing a convention center while spending huge public exchequer has been frustrated by the respondents by permitting and by using the convention center as school.