Karnataka cabinet okays international cricket stadium with 'world-class facilities' in Anekal
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday granted in-principle approval for the construction of an international cricket stadium and sports complex in Anekal taluk, Bengaluru Urban district. The project is estimated to cost Rs 2,350 crore.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said that the stadium will be built on 75 acres at Suryanagar Fourth Stage Extension, Indlavadi village. “We have directed the department to prepare a Detailed Project Report and viability study,” Deccan Herald quoted Patil as saying.
Housing Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan said that the new stadium will have a seating capacity of 80,000 and feature amenities for 24 indoor and outdoor sports. It will also include a 3,000-seat auditorium. “With these world-class facilities, it will become one of the largest sports complexes in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, a Housing Department document noted that Bengaluru’s existing M. Chinnaswamy Stadium holds only 38,000 spectators, while smaller cities already boast larger stadiums.
International cricket has not returned to Chinnaswamy Stadium since June, when a stampede following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL title win resulted in 11 deaths. The Justice John Michael Cunha Commission, which investigated the stampede, had recommended shifting events to “better-suited” venues.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Can't say when I'll return to India; legally barred from leaving UK: Mallya to Bombay HC
Mumbai (PTI): Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, facing multiple cases of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot say when he will return to India as he is legally barred from leaving the UK.
In a statement submitted through his counsel Amit Desai to the high court, Mallya said he did not have an active passport after it was revoked and hence, he cannot give a definite date of return to India.
The statement was submitted after a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that it would not hear Mallya's plea against the order declaring a fugitive economic offender until he returns to India.
The court had then asked the former liquor to clarify whether or not he intended to return to India.
Mallya, based in the United Kingdom since 2016, has filed two petitions in the HC -- one challenging an order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments of several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
The businessman, in his statement to HC, said he cannot give a definite date for his return as he does not have his Indian passport, which was revoked by the government in 2016, and also because there are orders of courts in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.
"Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India," Desai read out the statement in the court.
The senior counsel reiterated that Mallya's presence was not required in the country for the court to hear his pleas against the fugitive tag and the provisions of the Act.
"If he (Mallya) were to appear in India, then all these proceedings would be rendered irrelevant as the statute says that once the offender appears in the concerned court of law, then all these orders would be set aside," Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya's statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.
