The Bangalore Turf Club appears to have taken a significant step towards resolving its prolonged impasse with the Karnataka Government, with members broadly backing a compromise at the Special General Meeting. Leading breeder and Bangalore racing’s biggest individual sponsor, Zavaray S. Poonawalla, urged the Club to go with the Government to save racing. But the proposed conditions raise fresh questions, with time running short and the Supreme Court deadline looming.

The Special General Meeting of the Bangalore Turf Club has given its broad approval to pursuing a compromise with the Karnataka Government, with leading breeder Zavaray S. Poonawalla, Bangalore racing’s biggest individual sponsor, impressing upon members that there was little choice but to go along with the Government if racing was to be saved. His intervention appeared to find broad support among the members.

The questions, however, began when the proposed amendments and requests put forward by Chairman Shivshankar came under discussion.

The Chairman explained that the Club would seek the Government’s permission to raise finances for the construction of the proposed racecourse and for developing additional facilities that could generate revenue and make the Club economically viable. The Special EGM also requested that the land to be allotted to the Club should be free from encumbrances.

Whether these requests will be acceptable to the Government remains the big question.

The Government’s earlier stand was understood to be that the allotted land should not be mortgaged for any purpose. If the BTC is now seeking permission to raise finance against the property for construction and development, that could potentially become a sticking point in the proposed compromise.

Chairman Shivshankar remained enthusiastic about the prospects of a settlement and said that once the Government Order is issued, it would be brought before the General Body.

But there was a curious moment when he was asked whether the committee had been authorised to sign the compromise petition. His answer was accompanied by a caveat that the Club could call a meeting of members at short notice and brief them.

Exactly what that means in terms of the committee’s authority to actually sign the compromise petition was not entirely clear.

And time is certainly not on BTC’s side.

The Supreme Court, which heard the matter on Wednesday, has given the parties a last opportunity to report a settlement, adjourning the case to October 28.

The draft resolutions, meanwhile, have not yet been circulated to the members. Therefore, barring what the Chairman has explained at the meeting, there is little else available to members to read into the fine print of the proposed compromise. That makes the Government’s response to these requests, and the precise terms of the eventual compromise petition, particularly significant.