The Madras High Court on Monday waved the green flag for the conduct of Formula 4 Indian Championship as well as the Indian Racing League Night Street Race on a 3.7 km long street race circuit planned around the Island Grounds in Chennai city.
The Second Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq refused to stall the two races at the instance of a group of public interest litigants and instead permitted the State government to conduct the races with certain conditions.
The judges ordered that attention to the highest degree must be paid to public safety and patients of Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital at Omandurar Estate and the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital must not be subjected to inconvenience.
On being told that Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) homologated Gen 2 Mygale F4 cars each weighing 535 kg and powered by turbocharged engines were to be used for the race, the judges ordered installation of sound arresters around the circuit to avoid disturbance to in-patients.
The Bench also made it clear that the spectators must be provided with necessary safety gear since it had been represented that galleries for them would be erected at appropriate places around the circuit passing through Flag Staff Road, Kamarajar Salai, Sivanandam Salai and Anna Salai.
Authoring the verdict, Justice R. Mahadevan pointed out that the two races were to be conducted in Chennai city for the first time on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding entered between Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) and Racing Promotions Private Limited (RPPL).
Since the MoU provided for only an obligation upon the State government to spend ₹42 crore in the first year for the creation of the racing circuit besides another ₹15 crore each during two subsequent years and did not provide for any profit sharing formula, the judges said, the government could have negotiated better terms.
ustice Mahadevan pointed out that it was not a case of a sporting event being conducted by the State government and supported by a private entity holding expertise in that particular field. In fact, it was a reverse scenario of the State supporting an event being conducted by a private entity.
“Even though the State supports the private party by facilitation and undertaking the resultant expenditure, the financial gain would be only for the private party at an exponential level of a few hundred crores. This court cannot ignore these compelling factual scenario,” he said.
Therefore, the Bench directed RPPL to reimburse the expenditure of ₹42 crore made by the State government from the public exchequer prior to the conduct of the event. He said, the private company must also deposit ₹15 crore in advance during the subsequent years for sprucing up the infrastructure.
The judges observed that RPPL could not expect anything more than facilitation, coordination and cooperation of the State authorities whereas all monetary expenditure for the conduct of the races should be borne out only by the private company.
“In future, the State is expected to take upon itself the responsibility of conducting of such event in furtherance of its policy to encourage the racing sport and seek the support of private bodies having experience and expertise in the field. This will ensure fairness and also dispel any doubt as to mala fides in distribution of the State largesse,” the Bench concluded.
