Eden Gardens not a public space: Calcutta High Court in 1996 World Cup tax case

The Calcutta High Court recently held that Kolkata’s Eden Gardens cricket stadium is not a public space under the law [The Calcutta Municipal Corporation & Ors v The Cricket Association of West Bengal & Ors]. .A Division Bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee and Kaushik Chanda observed that neither the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act, 1980 nor the General Clauses Act, 1897 define the term ‘public space’ but even when it is given its natural meaning, it must mean a place which is open to the public at large.“In other words, any member of the public must have access to that place without any restriction. Nobody’s permission should be required for visiting such a place,” the Court said. It explained that as soon as conditions are imposed on members of the public for having access to a place, that place ceases to be a public place. “Keeping in mind the aforesaid discussion, would one be justified in describing the Eden Gardens Stadium as a public place? In our opinion, the answer must be in the negative… CAB [Cricket Association of Bengal] can deny permission to anybody to enter the Stadium even on a day when a match is on and the person is willing to pay for the ticket. The members of the public do not have an absolute or unrestricted right of access to Eden Gardens. Just because Eden Gardens Stadium can accommodate a huge number of people, maybe close to a lakh, that would not per se make the Stadium a public place,” the Court stated. .The Court further said that the dimension of a place or the number of people that visit a particular place would not determine the nature of a place as private or public.“The only criterion must be whether or not the members of the public have an unrestricted right of access to that place. Applying this test, Eden Gardens Stadium cannot be held to be a public place,” the Bench stated. .The Bench rendered these findings while upholding an order dated April 24, 2015, of a single-judge holding that the demand of ₹51 lakh issued by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) to the CAB for hosting the inauguration ceremony of the 1996 World Cup and the semi-final match of the tournament was illegal. KMC demanded the money from CAB as advertisement tax for putting up advertisements both inside and outside the Eden Gardens Stadium. .After considering the case, the High Court held that the CMC demand was even otherwise bad in law. “In view for the aforesaid we find no reason to interfere with the impugned judgement and order. The appeal and the connection application are, accordingly, dismissed. There will be no order as to costs,” the Bench finally said. .Senior Advocate Alak Kr Ghosh, along with advocates Swapan Kr Debnath, Sima Chakraborty and Susmita Saha Dutta, appeared for the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. Senior Advocates Jaydip Kar, Samrat Sen, and advocate Kaushik Mandal represented the Cricket Association of Bengal. .[Read Judgment]