Mumbai:
Bollywood actor Sonu Sood is a “habitual offender” who keeps carrying out unauthorised building work in a residential developing in suburban Juhu in spite of demolition action initiated on two occasions in the previous, the Mumbai civic body stated in its affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court on Tuesday.
The affidavit was filed in response to the petition filed by Mr Sood final week difficult a notice issued against him by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in October final year and an order passed by a civil court in December 2020 dismissing his suit against the notice.
In its notice, the BMC had alleged that Mr Sood carried out structural modifications in the six-storey residential developing ”Shakti Sagar” and was converting it into a industrial hotel.
“The appellant is a habitual offender and wants to enjoy the commercial proceeds of the unauthorised work and therefore once again started reconstructing the demolished portion in order to make it operational as a hotel albeit illegally and without permission from the License department,” the civic body mentioned in the affidavit.
As per the affidavit, Mr Sood was attempting to defend an “ex-facie illegal commercial hotel which has been constructed and modified by the appellant (Sood) contrary to the sanctioned building plan”.
“The appellant has not been given permission for change of user of the said property from residential to commercial and there is no license to run the commercial hotel,” the affidavit mentioned.
It added that Mr Sood had sought umbrage beneath unwarranted and baseless allegations of harassment and malafides.
“The appellant, who has totally modified an entire building unauthorisedly into a hotel, is running the same without a license,” the municipal corporation mentioned.
The BMC mentioned initial action was initiated against the illegal building in September 2018 but Mr Sood continued the building work.
On November 12, 2018, demolition of the unauthorised work was carried out.
“Such is the audacity of the appellant that he once again started alterations and reconstructed the demolished portion. Therefore, the BMC once again took action of demolition on February 14, 2020,” the affidavit mentioned.
It mentioned Mr Sood had no documents to even indicate that he or his wife Sonali Sood are the owners of the mentioned developing.
The petition will be heard on Wednesday by Justice Prithviraj Chavan.
The higher court on Monday extended till Wednesday the civil court’s order restraining the BMC from taking a coercive action against the alleged illegal building.
Mr Sood in his plea had claimed that he had not carried out any illegal or unauthorised building in the six-storey Shakti Sagar developing.
“The petitioner (Sood) has not made any changes in the building that warrants permission from the BMC. Only those changes that are allowed under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act have been done,” Mr Sood’s advocate Amogh Singh had argued.
The petition had requested the court to quash and set aside the notice issued by the BMC in October, 2020, and also sought an interim relief to not take any coercive action against the actor.
Mr Sood, who is recognized for his roles in films like “Dabangg”, “Jodha Akbar” and “Simmba”, came into spotlight in 2020 for his philanthropy work in assisting migrants attain their residences for the duration of the COVID-19 lockdown.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by employees and is published from a syndicated feed.)