The Revenue Department on Monday took possession of four acres of government land at the Ooty race course, which was leased to the Madras Race Club (MRC), for establishing a parking lot. Objecting to the move, the MRC said it will challenge the decision of the Nilgiris District administration in the Madras High Court.
Revenue Divisional Officer (Udhagamandalam) D. Suresh said that based on the initiative of District Collector Innocent Divya, the Revenue Department was taking over a section of the Ooty Race Course to eventually turn it into a parking space.
Rent unrevised
He said that 54 acres had been leased to the MRC, and the club had outstanding dues of ₹642 crore. The rent was fixed three decades ago and remained unrevised. On Monday, the RDO, along with the Ooty tahsildar, L. Dinesh Kumar, surveyed the land, which is to be taken over and handed over to the Police Department or the municipality for establishing the parking lot to ease congestion on major roads such as Ettines Road and Commercial Road.
However, R Ramakrishnan, chairman, MRC, described it as “unwarranted” action. “The Ooty Race Course and the racing season is an important part of the summer festival in the Nilgiris, and the decision to take over a prime section of the race course is completely unjust,” he contended. The MRC had also legally challenged the “exorbitant” lease rent.
A club official charged that Revenue officials had ignored a request to grant 15 days to trace some records pertaining to the original lease agreement. He contended that as per the Master Plan for Udhagamandalam Municipality, “open spaces,” such as the Ooty Lake, Botanical Garden and Race Course, are “sought to be preserved as such”. No permanent constructions can be set up there. He alleged that when the MGR birth centenary celebrations were held in the district earlier this year, over 600 buses were parked at the race course, damaging the surface.