Kangana Ranaut agrees to withdraw plea against BMC, to file for regularisation of her residence
The court also granted two weeks of protection to the actor, if the civic body decided against her application.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed actor Kangana Ranaut to withdraw her plea challenging a 2018 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation notice for alleged irregularities at her residence in the city’s Khar area, reported Live Law.
The matter is different from the demolition of her office, situated inside her bungalow, in Mumbai’s Pali area. The demolition was stayed by the Supreme Court.
Ranaut had moved the High Court after a civil court in Mumbai’s Dindoshi rejected her plea seeking interim relief in the case in December, observing that the alterations made to her bungalow were in “grave violation of the sanctioned plan”.
The High Court granted the actor four days to withdraw her suit from the civil court and apply for regularisation within four weeks. The directions were issued after Ranaut said she would apply for regularisation of the illegal portion of her bungalow.
Following her regularisation application, the civic body will take a decision on it expeditiously, as per the High Court’s order, reported India Today.
Advocate Aspi Chinoy, appearing for the civic body, highlighted a Supreme Court order in actor Sonu Sood’s case that said his application will be decided in accordance with law by the BMC. Ranaut’s lawyer, Birendra Saraf, however, told the court that the verdict in the Sonu Sood case should not be taken as a precedent. He also stated that the civic body should not reject Ranaut’s application for regularisation and then demolish her house the next day.
The court granted two weeks of protection to Ranaut, if the BMC decided against her application. During that period, she can approach a court.
During the hearing, Justice Prithviraj Chavan asked Ranaut’s lawyer if the withdrawal was unconditional. Saraf said that it was.
In the last hearing, the High Court had asked Ranaut to clarify if she would approach the BMC for regularisation or not. The BMC had clarified that the actor could apply for regularisation only if she accepts that the civic body’s notice is right and withdraws her suit.
In her plea, Ranaut had said that she had not made any unauthorised construction and the flats were in exactly the same condition as they were when she was given possession. The actor had also claimed that other flat purchasers were also served identical notices by the civic body in March 2018.
The BMC had in 2018 issued a notice to Ranaut for unauthorised construction at her apartment, where she has three apartments on a building called Orchid Breeze situated at Khar West.