The Madras High Court on Monday reserved its judgement on a batch of three public interest litigation (PIL) petitions filed against the conduct of Formula 4 night street race in Chennai by creating a circuit on the four public roads around the Island Grounds in the city.
Third Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq deferred their verdict after hearing Senior Counsel V. Raghavachari and advocates Narmadha Sampath and Preetika Dwivedi for the three PIL petitioners and Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram for the State.
The Bench also heard senior counsel P.R. Raman for Racing Promotions Private Limited with which the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for conducting the street race in Chennai for the first time.
The petitioners had opposed the race on multiple grounds, including the necessity to conduct it on public roads instead of confining it to the racing circuit at Irungattukottai, and the need to spend ₹42 crore of public money for the race to be conducted by a private body.
Opposing the PIL petitions, the A-G told the court that it was a prestigious event aimed at popularising the sport. Conduct of such a race would prevent youngsters from going astray and, instead, channelise their talents towards competing in such races in the years to come, he said.
He added that public money would be spent on laying a world class tarmac on Flag Staff Road, a part of Kamarajar Road, Sivanandam Salai and a section of Anna Salai and it would be a permanent infrastructure that would be available to the motorists even after the race.
The A-G also said the cases had been filed with a political motive and that the litigants could not interfere with the policy of the government to popularise a sport. Besides, almost all sporting activities were conducted by private organisations but supported by the government.
