On Friday the Bombay HC ruled that the MTDC must have provided broad publicity to its purpose to charter the opulence train, Deccan Odyssey, although welcoming tenders was not much required.

A section bench of Justices including D Y Chandrachud and Rekha Sondur Baldota was hearing a PIL reported by Harshad Gawde, a tour operative settled in Vengurla. The appeal filed previous year affirmed that MTDC charter the train to M/s The Luxury Trains for the full top tourist period, devoid of calling for tenders. The occupant subleased it to Travel Corporation of India, which is a subordinate of Thomas Cook.

Further, TCI altered the train's name to Indian Maharaja and has been making it in use it to destinations like Rajasthan, New Delhi, UP and Gujarat, UP from November 18, 2009.

The petition affirmed that without calling for the tenders, MTDC swayed into a contract with a private tour operator and advised the court to keep aside all consents of charter/lease settlement. The PIL also declared that the purpose of rolling out this train is to showcase the Maharashtra tourism which was crushed by permitting the train to move outside the state.

Nonetheless, Justice Chandrachud in a comprehensive order viewed that there was no legal obstruction against permitting the train's operation in to the exteriors of the state.