A PIL against allotment of the plot to Ganguly was filed last October by the CA Block Citizens' Association and others on the grounds that norms and rules were violated.
Sourav Ganguly, already upset over the poor showing of his Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League season III, will have more reason to be agitated with the Calcutta high court ordering him to pay Rs43.75 lakh for a plot of land in posh Salt Lake town which was allotted to him by the West Bengal government.
The 37-year-old former India captain was asked by a division bench comprising chief justice MS Shah and justice PC Ghose to pay the amount within six weeks (by May), failing which the lease shall stand terminated.
A public-interest litigation (PIL) against allotment of the plot to Ganguly was initiated in the high court in October last year by the CA Block Citizens' Association and others.
The petitioners sought cancellation of the allotment on the grounds that norms and rules were violated in leasing out the 4151 sq m land to the cricketer.
It was alleged that after the handover, Ganguly, who leads the Knight Riders, had made a request to the urban development
department for allotment of the plot in question in CA block in place of an earlier BF block plot, which was complied with.
A school — Wissen International School — was being set up on the plot by a group of which Ganguly is a promoter, the petition said.
The division bench, however, observed in its order that there was no arbitrariness in the action of the state in allotment of the land to Ganguly.
But Ganguly would have to pay a premium of Rs43.75 lakh in respect of the subsequent plot of land at the present rate, the court directed.
In the IPL, Ganguly's team has won five matches and lost six. In a rare outburst, the skipper made a scathing attack on his players after the team slumped to a seven-wicket defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Saturday. "We were rubbish," he said after the team dropped catches in a display of sloppy fielding.
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