Panel favours renewing Bombay gym land lease

The state Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has advised the state government to go ahead with the process of renewing the lease agreement of Bombay Gymkhana land in south Mumbai as per the state lease agreement policy. The PAC also suggested that representatives of the state, BMC and Gymkhana discuss and mutually decide on the issue. The Gymkhana and the BMC are at loggerheads over the issue as the civic body had requested the state not to renew the lease. The club had invited wrath of the government authority last year when it rejected a controversial proposal to offer life-long membership to senior IAS officers. The PAC report, which was tabled in the legislature on Friday, last day of the monsoon session, says the state leased out a portion of Azad Maidan measuring 30,977 sq mtrs to Bombay Gymkhana for 99 years. The lease agreement was signed in 1908 and it expired in 2006. However the state has not yet renewed the lease agreement. While hearing the matter, the committee observed a discrepancy in measurement of the land in possession of the Gymkhana. It said that according to the lease agreement, Gymkhana was given 30,977 sq mtr land, for which the annual lease amount was Rs 7,704. However, when the land was re-measured as per the Bombay high court directive, as the matter is sub-judice, the PAC pointed out that it had 28,928 sq mtrs land— 2,050 sq mtrs less.