SunstarTV Bureau: The Bombay High Court has dismissed a plea filed by actor Sonu Sood, challenging the city civil court order that dismissed his petition against the notice issued to him by the BMC, on Thursday.
Earlier, the BMC had issued notice to the 48-year-old actor for allegedly carrying out structural changes to a residential building in suburban Juhu without permission.
A single-judge bench of Justice Prithviraj K Chavan also dismissed the actor’s plea seeking to restrain BMC from taking any action based on its notice.
“The ball is now in the office of BMC,” the high court said. Sood’s lawyer sought 10 weeks time to comply with BMC’s order and sought a stay on the demolition, but the court did not accept. “You ( Sonu Sood) are too late. You’ve ample opportunity and law helps those who are diligent,” the judge said.
On October 27, last year, BMC had issued a notice under Section 53 (1) of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act to Sood and his wife Sonali, giving them a month to restore the property as per its original plan or get approval for the changes made.
The actor had approached the city civil court seeking a stay on the BMC notice. He had moved the high court when the civil court ruled against him on December 19.
Sood and his wife, in their petition filed through advocate D P Singh, had claimed they did not carry out any ‘illegal or unauthorised’ construction in the six-storey Shakti Sagar building in Mumbai’s Juhu.
Challenging the civil court’s order of December 19, Sood contended that the court “ought to have considered that the notice was issued by the complainant (BMC) who is hell-bent on causing harm to the property of the appellants if at all its illegal demands are not satisfied”.
He also stated that the BMC notice was in contravention of provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act. Sood contended that the notice was issued with ‘malafide intent’ and was nothing but blackmailing tactics issued at the behest of the complainant (BMC).
