A civil court in Maharashtra rejected Kangana Ranaut’s plea to restrain Mumbai’s civic body from demolishing alleged illegal constructions at her residence, after observing that the actor had committed a “grave violation” by merging three flats into one, Live Law reported on Friday.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had, in March 2018, issued a notice to the actor for undertaking “unauthorised constructions” in her apartment. The civic body had asked her to restore the structure to its original position, warning that otherwise, the unauthorised portion would be demolished. Ranaut had challenged the notice, and requested the court to restrain the civic body from carrying out the demolition. The court, at the time, had ordered a status quo.
However, in its latest order on December 23, a court in suburban Dindoshi area of Mumbai rejected the actor’s application, saying the “interference of this court is not required”.
In the order, which was made public on Thursday, judge LS Chavan noted that Ranaut owned three flats on the fifth floor of a 16-storey building in Khar, which she had merged into one. “In doing so, she covered the sunk area, duct area, common passage and converted free Floor Space Index into habitable area, the judge observed,” the court said. “These are grave violation of the sanctioned plan for which the permission of the competent authority is required.”
However, the court gave the actor six weeks to approach the Bombay High Court against the order.
The Mumbai civic body had demolished a part of Ranaut’s property in the city on September 9. Later that day, the High Court stayed the demolition drive after the actor filed a petition against it.
The actor alleged that the demolition drive was motivated by her comments against the ruling Shiv Sena government. Ranaut had sparked a row after she claimed that Mumbai felt like Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and that she feared living in the city. She had also criticised the city police for its handling of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
The Bombay High Court then on November 27, had quashed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s demolition notice to Ranaut, saying that it was “nothing but malice in law”.
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