Plea In Bombay High Court Against BMC Notices To Juhu Bungalow In Which Union Minister Narayan Rane Resides

A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging orders passed by the Mumbai civic body against a bungalow located in Mumbai's plush locality of Juhu in which Union Minister Narayan Rane and his family members reside.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 petition is filed by a company called Kaalkaa Real Estates Private, which was amalgamated and merged with a company in which Rane and his family held shares called Artline Properties Pvt Ltd. The notices were issued in the name of a company Artline Properties Pvt Ltd and Rane and his family reside in the bungalow.The petition was mentioned by Advocate Amogh Singh for urgent hearing before the bench of Justices Amjad Sayed and Abhay Ahuja on Monday, and it has been kept for a hearing on Tuesday, March 22.It seeks quashing of the notices and orders issued by the BMC calling them as perverse and illegal. According to the petition, there is no contravention of any regulation and the entire premise was within the permissible floor-space-index limit – permissible limit of 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.Narayan Rane's wife Neelam and their son Nilesh, who used to be Directors of Artline, responded to the notice stating that it was issued after nine years of completion of the building and called the notice as issued with malafide intention.The Directors were called for a hearing before the BMC officer after which they 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 unauthorised 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.

Plea In Bombay High Court Against BMC Notices To Juhu Bungalow In Which Union Minister Narayan Rane Resides

Sharmeen Hakim

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