Mumbai : The Bombay High Court on Thursday pulled up the Mumbai city Collector and other authorities for sealing the historic Eros theatre building and has directed it to immediately break open the seal from the premises.
The division bench presided over by Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice Prakash Naik observed that the move of Mumbai city collector to seal the building showed the ‘arbitrariness and high-handedness’ of the authorities.
The bench was hearing petitions filed by Eros theatre and SC Cambata Trust. The theatre contended that it was a tenant in the building and was paying the rent regularly. The theatre also claimed that the move by the city collector has resulted in a huge loss as the authorities had asked their customers to walk out of the building on Wednesday.
The Trust contended that the building was not owned by Cambata Aviation and that the action taken was illegal as it has caused problems to the tenants of the buildings. After hearing the submissions advanced from both the sides, Justice Kemkar said, “Prima facie it appears that the authorities have ‘not applied’ their minds before taking the decision to seal the building. It has caused problems to tenants of the buildings as they were not informed well in advance.”
The building was sealed on Wednesday in accordance with the orders of the Labour Court that ordered the city collector to seal all the properties owned by Cambata Aviation. The Cambata Aviation has not paid the dues of its employees since February 2015.
