Days after the Centre initiated steps to take back the land occupied by the Delhi Gymkhana Club, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal on Monday made his first public remarks on the issue since the ministry’s Land and Development Office (L&DO) directed the club on May 22 to vacate its premises by June 5.The minister indicated that similar action could be taken elsewhere whenever the government land was required for public purposes.Speaking at a press briefing on the BRICS Urbanisation Forum to be hosted in Delhi on June 11 and 12, he said, “Land is a basic feature of urban development…In most cases, it has been given on lease. The leased land can be vacated upon expiry of the lease or even before that for any other use.”“The land we are taking back today will be put to use as per the requirements, and this work will carry on…There is no other source of land, so we will have to use this land for development needs,” he added.The minister’s remarks come amid an ongoing dispute over the future of the Delhi Gymkhana Club, one of the Capital’s most prominent social institutions, which occupies 27.3 acres at Safdarjung Road in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi.In its May 22 communication, the Land and Development Office informed the club that the land was required for strengthening defence infrastructure and other public security needs.The office stated that the premises, located in a “highly sensitive and strategic area of Delhi” was “critically required” for defence infrastructure, vital public security purposes, urgent institutional requirements, governance infrastructure and public-interest projects linked to the adjoining government land.The club’s sprawling campus at 2, Safdarjung Road was originally leased to the Imperial Delhi Gymkhana Club Ltd, now known as Delhi Gymkhana Club Ltd, for maintaining a social and sporting club. The property sits next to the Prime Minister’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg and falls within a high-security administrative zone that houses key establishments of the Central Government and defence forces.The Centre’s move has triggered legal proceedings, while club members received temporary relief after the Delhi High Court on May 26 took note of the government’s assurance that possession would not be taken forcibly by June 5.Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that any eviction proceedings would be carried out strictly in accordance with law and only after due notice. The court thereafter observed that no interim order was required at that stage.With the government maintaining that reclaimed land would be deployed for developmental and institutional requirements, Manohar Lal’s remarks on Monday signal that the process of resuming leased government land, wherever considered necessary for public purposes, is likely to continue.