HC says malls also meant for leisure and amusement, directs BMC to allow Mumbai mall to hold 3-day ice cream festival

Malls are not just for shopping but also for leisure, amusement and other recreational activities, the Bombay High Court has held, directing Mumbai civic body BMC to permit a mall to hold a three-day ice cream festival on its premises.

A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and R N Laddha in its order of April 26, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, said there was nothing objectionable and irregular if malls utilise their open spaces to organise such temporary festivals for the benefit of the public at large.

The order came on a petition filed by R Mall Developers against the refusal of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to grant them a no objection certificate, or NOC, to hold an ice cream festival in the courtyard of the R City Mall at suburban Ghatkopar from April 28 to April 30.

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The civic body rejected permission on the grounds that such commercial activity was not permissible in the recreational or open space of the mall.

The petitioner's advocates Mayur Khandeparkar and Saket Mone argued that the activity is for a limited period of about three days and only temporary stalls would be installed. They further said that the stalls would be installed by shops that already have permanent licences in the mall.

The bench in its order noted that there was no restriction on any temporary commercial activity under the provisions of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations for Greater Mumbai 2034 (DCPR 2034).

It held that recreational activities would include amusement or enjoyment-related leisure activities.

The court held that people visit malls not only for shopping but also for leisure or amusement that they would derive from visiting different areas created in the mall such as the food court, play area, cinema theatre and so on.

“In such a context, there is nothing objectionable and irregular if such malls utilise its open spaces for organizing such limited (tenure) festivals for the leisure, amusement and/or enjoyment of visitors of the mall,” the court said.

The bench added that it was not the case that some temporary unregulated commercial activity would be undertaken by the petitioner mall in the open space.

“It is only an activity where the visitors of the mall would enjoy the benefit of a variety of edibles at a common open space, which, in our opinion, is a permissible recreational activity,” HC said, adding such activities are intended to benefit the public at large, especially in a city like Mumbai where a large segment of the population would be interested in such events.

“Certainly, such temporary activity subject to any other compliances is required to be permitted, so that the open spaces can also be utilized, as permissible under law,” HC said.

The bench directed the civic body to grant the NOC to the petitioner mall.