Chennai: The Madras high court has directed Chennai Collector to permit the Madras Race Club (MRC) to operate one of its bank accounts frozen by authorities, to meet day-to-day expenses. When the petition filed by MRC came up for hearing before Justice M. Duraiswamy on Friday, the judge directed the Chennai district collector to de-freeze the bank account held by the club with the Kilpauk branch of the Yes Bank bearing account no. 062994600000271, forthwith. The judge also directed the club not to draw any further amount from the remaining frozen accounts and shall not take any coercive steps. The judge posted the matter for further hearing on November 21.
The club, in the petition, sought to quash an order dated November 14 last, the Chennai collector freezing five bank accounts held by the club and the fixed deposits. Senior counsel appearing for the club submitted that since the bank accounts had been frozen, the club was not in a position to meet the day-to-day expenditure for maintaining the club and feed 700 race horses and ponies. The club had already issued cheques in favour of some third parties, which are likely to be presented for collection by them in the bank accounts.
TNCA gets temporary relief:
The Madras high court has restrained the authorities from collecting any further amount from the bank accounts of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), which was facing a demand notice from the local administration for rental arrears of Rs 1,553 crore, till further orders. On September 11 Mylapore-Triplicane tahsildar issued the demand notice demanding rental arrears from 2001 for the land on which MA Chidambaram cricket stadium situated at Chepauk. When the petition filed by the TNCA challenging the notice came up for hearing, Justice K. Ravichandrabaabu passed the interim order and posted the matter to November 21 for further hearing.
In the petition, TNCA submitted that the authorities increased the rental demand suddenly to 20,713 times compared to the rent paid till 2000. The association was a non-profit organisation that nurtures talented cricketers and provides world-class facilities for the game with an average annual income of ' 25 to 30 crore and expenditure of '22 to 23 crore. The total income generated through sponsorships, the sale of tickets for matches and share of media rights in the last 86 years of its existence would not come remotely close to the amount demanded by the tahsildar.
In 1936 the land was given to the association for a period of 30 years for constructing a modern stadium to promote cricket and in 1965 the lease was extended for another 30 years at an annual lease rental of Rs 5,000 for first 10 years, Rs 7,500 for the next 10 years and Rs 10,000 for the further period. In 1995, the lease was extended for 20 more years at an annual rental of around '50,000 for the first five years. Subsequently, the government reserved its rights to enhance the rent from 2000 to 2015.
In 2004, authorities informed the TNCA that the rent was fixed at the market value from April 2000 and demanded Rs 22.98 crore. Meanwhile, in 2015, TNCA sent a letter to Chennai collector seeking renewal of the lease for a period 30 years and sought permission to pay a reasonable lease rent. Tashildar on August 8, 2017, ordered payment of rental arrears of Rs 32 lakh within a week and TNCA promptly paid the amount. The TNCA has approached the court to set aside the demand notice seeking it to pay escalated rental arrears of ' 1,553 crore.
