Balaji Tele clarifies on MFSCDCL, Habale dispute

MUMBAI: Two days after the Bombay High Court ordered Subhash Ghai to hand over to the government of Maharashtra the 20-acre land on which his film and television institute Whistling Woods is situated, Balaji Telefilms Limited finds itself caught in a similar situation.

Though the case in mention involves Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation Limited (MFSCDCL) and a 50-year old farmer Abu Habale, the production house?s name has been dragged because an evacuation notice sent by MFSCDCL to Habale says it has given land to Balaji Telefilms Limited.

Replying to the notice, Habale?s advocate sent a notice to MFSCDCL and Balaji for not following the regular norm before asking his client to move out and accusing him of encroachment.

Though Habale and MFSCDCL are set to fight the case out in Court, Balaji is of the opinion that it should not be dragged into the private dispute.

Commented Balaji Telefilms CFO Sreenivas Shenoy, ?We have no comments on the matter. It is a matter between the government body and the farmer and we are not in any way connected with it. Though we were interested in the plot, the deal had not materialised. We have neither the local standi neither the competency to comment on the matter. We are not even the tenants of the land.?

According to Habale, though he has been farming on the plot for years, the MFSCDCL has pronounced him an encroacher. ?They have called it ?encroachment? after giving the land to Balaji. They have uprooted trees and cut water supply. We paid charges to the government from the 1960s to the 1990s. The government then stopped taking money,? Habale said.