State swoops in for pound of flesh from city gymkhanas

Maharashtra government enforces stricter rules for elite clubs on government land, increasing annual rent by 4% and mandating new operational provisions.

In a major move, the Maharashtra government has decided to enforce stricter rules for all elite clubs and gymkhanas located on government land in Mumbai and across the state. While retaining the earlier lease charges, it has decided to increase the annual rent by 4% every year.

The government resolution, passed on Thursday, applies to all gynmkhanas and elite clubs operating on government lands across the state. (HT Photo)

The government resolution (GR) for the revised policy was issued by the revenue department on Thursday. In it, the state has done away with the provision mandating gymkhanas to share 25% of their commercial revenue with it but has come out with a long list of fresh provisions that aim to give it greater control over the functioning of the gymkhanas.

For instance, it is now mandatory for the clubs to appoint 5% of Class I government officers as service members and convert at least five of them annually to permanent members after they complete five years. The officers will have to pay annual membership fees but the charge for conversion of service members as permanent members has been capped at ₹5 lakh in Mumbai and ₹2.5 lakh for the rest of the state.

Additionally, the clubs will have to be reserved for government programmes and functions for five days a year for free.

In 2017, the state revenue department had classified gymkhanas into A, B and C categories based on their size, and decided to make 10% of the ready reckoner rate as on January 1, 2017 the base price for determining the lease rent. The A category (20,000 square metres) had to pay 1% of the base price as lease rent; B category gymkhanas (10,000 to 20,000 square metres) had to pay 0.5%, while C category gymkhanas (less than 10,000 square metres) had to pay 0.25%. In the fresh order, the state has hiked the annual lease rent by 4% every year.

The GR also states that the gymkhanas will have to be made “available for purposes such as natural calamities, government sports competitions and elections among others”. “The properties will have to be reserved for government programmes and functions for five days in a year and that too for free. The recommendation made by the city collector will be binding for all the gymkhanas,” it further states.

The government has continued to allow the gymkhanas to use their grounds for events other than sports for 45 days in a year but has mandated that the process for renting out the property be done online for better transparency. It has also introduced license fees for such activities, which will be collected by the collectorate: ₹1.5 lakh for the first day and ₹1 lakh each for the rest of the days for A category gymkhanas, ₹1 lakh for the first day and ₹50,000 subsequently for B category gymkhanas, and ₹50,000 for the first day and ₹25,000 subsequently for C category gymkhanas.

“If the gymkhanas use the property without intimating the collector and without paying the license fee in advance, it will have to pay double the license fee,” the order points out. The gymkhanas have also been allowed to use 15 percent of the area of the property for commercial activities.

The new policy has come more than a year after a controversy erupted following an urban development department order which gave the chief minister the right to nominate 50 free lifetime members to the Royal Western India Turf Club. The order was issued when Eknath Shinde was CM and also heading the urban development department. As the property is owned by the BMC, the municipal commissioner was appointed as the ex-officio member of the club.