Bombay HC Reserves Judgement on Writ Petition Filed by Actor

The Bombay supreme court on Monday closed all arguments and reserved its verdict on the petition filed by actor Kangana Ranaut against the demolition of a neighbourhood of her bungalow in Mumbai by the town civic body.

A bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and R I Chagla conducted hearings on the plea last week before closing it for orders on Monday.

Ranaut approached the supreme court September 9 after the demolition of a neighborhood of her bungalow in Pali Hill area here by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

She had sought that the demolition be declared illegal and therefore the court direct BMC to pay her Rs 2 crore as damages.

Ranaut, through her counsel Dr Birendra Saraf, had alleged that the BMC administered the demolition out of malice following a comment she made against the Mumbai Police that irked the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra.

She also cited an alleged threat given to her by Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut in an interview.

Saraf told the HC during previous hearings that the demolition was administered on September 9, an equivalent day because the interview.
The BMC’s counsels, Anil Sakhre, Joel Carlos and Aspi Chinoy, had, however, denied the actor’s allegations.

They said the BMC had simply been performing its statutory duty in demolishing such portions of the bungalow that Ranaut had altered illegally.
In an affidavit filed through Carlos, the civic body alleged that despite making illegal structural changes, Ranaut had approached court for relief.

This was an abuse of the method of law, the BMC said and urged the HC to dismiss her plea and impose a price on her.