Illegal building construction in Mumbai- HC rules no relief to actor Sonu Sood

Mumbai, January 21: The Bombay HC on Thursday denied any relief to actor Sonu Sood in relation to the illegal additions and alterations made to his Shakti Sagar building at Juhu, and illegal conversion of the building into a residential hotel. With this the Mumbai Police and the BMC gets doors open to take action against Sood.

 

 

BMC had issued the notice, calling upon the actor, who owns the ground-plus-six storey structure, to either remove all unauthorised additions and alterations and restore the building to its original condition, or apply under section 44 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966 for retention of the additions and alterations.

 

Besides, the civic body had also called upon the actor to stop using tenements in the building for commercial purpose, a residential hotel and of the shops as restaurants, alleging that the change of user was without appropriate permissions. Sood’s counsel, advocate Amogh Singh, however, maintained that the actor has not made any additional constructions in the building. He said the actor took ownership of the building only in 2018-19, and the building was as it was since January 1992, when it was constructed.

 

As regards conversion of the building into a residential hotel and ground-floor shops into restaurants, Singh said no permission of the civic body was required for the change of user, but by way of abundant caution, the actor has applied for change of user, and in-principle approval had already been granted by the civic body for the same. Singh also pointed out that during the recent lockdown, Sood had made the entire building available as temporary accommodation for police personnel, and urged the court to grant an interim order in favour of the actor.

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