HC allows Mumbai's Club Exotica patrons to visit restaurant till 11pm

Bringing relief to the restaurants operating near the Yeoor Village, on the periphery of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the Bombay High court on Friday allowed the patrons of restaurant Club Exotica, to visit the restaurant after sunset upto 11pm.

Division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice RS Dalvi, while hearing the petition filed by restaurant owner Prasad Kolamkar, observed that the club will have to abide by the previous order passed in the case of Golden Swan club.

The bench has also ordered the Thane Municipal Corporation to include a clause while issuing permission to upcoming commercial establishments, that its patrons will not be allowed to enter or leave the Yeoor village after sunset.

The bench stated that no vehicles will stop on the 1.6 kilometers road passing through the national park and vehicles must leave by 11pm and not enter before 7am. The club had moved the court challenging the Conservator of Forest decision to not allow its members and patrons to enter the area after sunset.

As per the petition the club has been in operation for several years and no authorities have received any complaints against them. Further, the club has a bar and restaurant which is functional from 12pm to 1:30am. Members and patrons come there after hard work to de-stress with their family. On weekdays the restaurant sees around 50 visitors while on weekends it goes up to 200.

It also said Yeoor village is under the Thane Municipal Corporation and not part of a forest land. The club has been regularly paying all the necessary taxes to the authorities and thus it finds no reason why its patrons are being stopped at the Madhubhan gate and not allowed to reach the club after sunset.

The Conservator of Forest opposed the plea by saying cars entering after sunset with their blaring music systems and high beams disturb the animals that move in search of prey, apart from accidently running over them.

It further said, "It is not an exotic club (Club Exotica) which has only 50 to 60 life members, but it has a restaurant so those who are not members of the club also visit the place, causing a lot of disturbance to the wild life movement."

The affidavit adds, "Human movement in and around across the forest directly interferes with the movement of animals and disturbs their natural cycles of feeding, reproduction and plant propagation. Therefore it is desirable to keep disturbance to the minimal."

The conservator also said that due to the urbanization around the National Park, pollution is already taking its toll on the animals. Leading to reduced fertility shortage of natural prey and increase in man-mammal conflict, if this cannot be restored then we can reduce the deleterious effects and reverse if possible."