MUMBAI: Coming down hard on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for demolishing part of Kangana Ranaut’s property in Bandra, the Bombay High Court on Friday termed the action illegal and done out of ‘malice’ and directed the civic agency to compensate the actor for the damage.
A bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and R I Chagla quashed the BMC’s demolition notice and appointed an assessor to evaluate the damage caused so as to decide Kagana’s compensation claim. “The court is convinced that the notice dated 7th September, the action of demolition following it on 9th September 2020 are actuated by malafides, and in any event, involve a clear malice in law,” the bench said.
The court also reprimanded Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for his use of expletive against the actress, saying the conduct “does not befit a parliamentarian”. The bench, however, said it did not agree with Kangana’s utterances and advised her to show restrain in her comments against the government.
In its order, the HC bench said that the photos from the site, documents on record and the chain of events showed that the BMC’s action was “predetermined”, “malafide” and in breach of a citizen’s rights. “The manner in which the action was carried out leaves no doubt that using Section 354 was unauthorised, bad in law and aimed at preventing the petitioner from taking recourse to preventive legal action,” it said.
The court noted that the BMC action was abuse of power as Raut “was determined to teach a lesson to the petitioner”. The demolition had followed a war of words between Kangana and Raut. Reacting to the verdict, Mayor Kishori Pednekar said the BMC had taken action against Kangana’s property as per the BMC Act, but will study the court order and act over it.