Bombay High Court Restrains Mumbai Civic Body From Taking Demolition Action Against Narayan Rane's Building

A division bench of Justices AA Sayyed and Abhay Ahuja disposed of the plea filed by the company that owns the bungalow - Kaalkaa Real Estates Private Limited – in which the Rane's have a major shareholding.

The court said that till the regularisation application is decided, no coercive action should be taken. If an adverse decision was passed then the petitioners would get an additional three weeks from the receipt of the order. "All contentions open. Petition disposed of."

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued orders against Aadish Bungalow in Juhu asking the owners/occupiers to demolish illegal extensions to the bungalow on their own; in case the owners/occupiers fail to do so, the BMC would go ahead and carry out the said demolition and recover the cost from the owners/occupiers.

The notices were issued in the name of a company Artline Properties Pvt Ltd and Rane and his family reside in the bungalow.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Milind Sathe along with Advocate Amogh Singh for the company claimed that the notices were issued for erroneous reasons. While the buildings were constructed in 2013, notice for inspection was sent in February 2022.

Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy along with Advocate Joel Carlos appeared for BMC and opposed relief to the company. He pointed out that the fact that they had applied for regularisation meant there were violations.

The court noted that a regularisation application was filed by the company and they were merely seeking protection till the application was decided and thereafter in case of an adverse order.

The court, therefore, protected demolition of alleged illegalities of the bungalow.

Background

In the petition the company sought quashing of the notices and orders issued by the BMC calling them as perverse and illegal. According to the petition, there was no contravention of any regulation, and the entire premise was within the permissible floor-space-index limit – permissible limit of the area that can be constructed on a particular piece of land.

According to the petition an inspection notice was issued for the bungalow after certain media reports, followed by an inspection of the premises by BMC officials. This further followed a show-cause notice on February 25 seeking an explanation on how additions/changes in usage of the premises were not in contravention to the approved plans.

The Directors were called for a hearing before the BMC officer after which they sought time to respond to the notice. They were given a date for March 10, 2022, however, in the meantime, another notice was issued on March 4.

The company also made an application for regularisation of portions of the premises alleged to be in contravention by making a payment, while contending that there were no contraventions. A detailed response was given to the second notice as well.

The concerned BMC officer eventually passed orders on both the notices separately, asking the owners/occupiers to remove the unauthorized work within 15 days of the receipt of the order, failing which the corporation would demolish those portions and recover the charges from the owners/occupiers.