Kangana Vs Shiv Sena: Bombay HC closes arguments, reserves verdict on petition against BMC

Bombay High Court on Monday closed all arguments and reserved its verdict on petition filed by actor Kangana Ranaut against demolition of a part of her bungalow in Mumbai by city civic body.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in a written submission to court on Monday denied allegations of malice and personal vendetta, and said Ranaut''s claim of Rs 2 crore as dams from BMC for partial demolition of her bungalow cant t be "entertained". It said after being served a stop work tice, Ranaut submitted a "false and evasive reply" denying that any illegal construction work was going on at site.

A bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and R I Chagla conducted hearings on plea last week. On Monday, court accepted written submissions from counsels of Ranaut and BMC summing up ir arguments before closing matter for orders.

Ranaut approached high court September 9 after demolition of a part of her bungalow in Pali Hill area here by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). She had sought that demolition be declared illegal and court direct BMC to pay her Rs 2 crore as dams.

In its written submission to HC, BMC said it was disputing actor's claims of several movable property and articles having been damd during such demolition. re was proof that any movable property or articles were damd during demolition carried out at Ranaut''s bungalow. refore, paying any compensation for same was t warranted, it said.

" petitioner's claim for Rs 2 crore compensation for movables/ articles allegedly damd or destroyed during demolition cant be adjudicated in present proceedings," BMC said.

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" fact that such movables were in fact destroyed during demolition has been denied and is disputed. alleged value of such movables is also disputed," it said.

"It is respectfully submitted that in absence of proper proof, such allegations and claims for compensation for loss allegedly caused cant be entertained," BMC said in submission filed through its counsels Joel Carlos, Anil Sakhre and Aspi Chiy. It reiterated that Ranaut had "brazenly and unlawfully" carried out extensive alterations and additions to bungalow in breach of its approved building plan.

BMC said after being served a stop-work tice under section 354 (A) of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, Ranaut submitted a "false and evasive reply" denying that any illegal construction work was ongoing at site.

It is because of such false reply that BMC had to take next step of issuing a demolition tice and carrying out demolition work, civic body said.

Both BMC and its H-ward officer Bhagyawant Late, who is also a party in case, submitted that civic body and its officials had been performing ir statutory duty in carrying out demolition work.

y denied all allegations of malice and personal vendetta that Ranaut had made in her plea. Ranaut, through her counsel Dr Birendra Saraf, had alleged that BMC carried out demolition out of malice following a comment she made against Mumbai Police that irked Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra.

She had also cited an alleged threat given to her by Shiv Sena''s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut in an interview. Saraf told HC during previous hearings that demolition was carried out on September 9, same day as interview.

BMC''s counsels, had, however, denied actor's allegations. y said BMC had simply been performing its statutory duty in demolishing such portions of bungalow that Ranaut had altered illegally.

In an affidavit filed through Carlos, civic body alleged that despite making illegal structural changes, Ranaut had approached court for relief. This was an abuse of process of law, BMC said and urged HC to dismiss her plea and impose a cost on her.

Raut also told court through his counsel Pradeep Thorat that BMC''s action had thing to do with his interview or any or comments made on Ranaut. During previous hearings, bench questioned BMC''s swiftness in demolishing Ranaut''s property.

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It also stayed demolition through an interim order and ted that had BMC shown similar swiftness in all cases of illegal construction, Mumbai would have been a very different city. court had also asked Raut if it befitted a parliamentarian to use ungraceful langu against a citizen?

"Don''t you have any grace?" HC asked after viewing a clip of interview where Raut asked "what is law," responding to a question on if he would take legal action against Ranaut for having compared Mumbai to PoK in a tweet.