Bombay HC extends relief to Irrfan Khan, Kapil Sharma over ‘building violation’

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday extended relief to stand-up comedian Kapil Sharma already granted by a civil court and also granted relief to actor Irrfan Khan in connection with alleged illegal construction in their residential flats. The court has asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file its affidavit in reply to the petitions filed by both the persons challenging the notice issued for demolition of alleged unauthorised structure at their flats in suburban Goregaon.

The division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Makarand Karnik also directed all the parties to maintain status quo in the matter, which means that neither can the civic body demolish the controversial structures nor can the petitioners make any changes to their structure.

The contention of Mr Sharma and Mr Khan is that in April this year the municipal corporation had issued notice to them under section 351 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, claiming that certain constructions in the 18-storey residential building ‘DLH Enclave’ in Goregaon were illegal and hence will have to be razed.

Mr Sharma’s petition has said that the BMC once again issued notice under section 53 of MRTP Act (for demolition of illegal structure) and it is not justified on part of the BMC because a civil suit is already pending on the basis of the BMC notice in the civil court.

When the court sought BMC’s reply, the civic body’s lawyer told the court that though the draft reply is ready, it is not affirmed and hence one week’s time should be granted to file the reply and the matter should be kept for hearing a week thereafter. The bench accepted this request and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

It may be recalled that Mr Sharma had kicked up a controversy last month by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by an official of BMC which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also at his apartment in suburban Goregaon.

When contacted, Mr Khan’s manager Manpreet on behalf of the actor refused to make any comment on the issue. Efforts were made to contact Mr Sharma but he was unavailable for comment.