Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) action of demolishing a part of actor Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow in Mumbai was illegal and smacked of mala fide intentions, said the Bombay High Court on Friday. Observing that the demolition was carried out on “wrongful grounds” and “against the rights of the citizens”, a bench of Justices S.J. Kathawalla and R.I. Chagla said that it was “bad in law”.
The court was presiding over a petition filed by Kangana Ranaut, who was seeking for the partial demolition of her Pali Hill bungalow on 9 September to be declared illegal. Kangana had filed the petition on 9 September when the demolition process was initiated by BMC. On that very day, the HC had slammed the BMC and directed an immediate stay on demolition, saying that the BMC’s conduct smacked of mala fides.
On Friday, stating that it does not approve of authorities using “muscle power” against any citizen, the Bombay High Court also said that the case was fit for awarding compensation to Kangana Ranaut for the damages. The bench, however, clarified that it did not condone any illegal construction carried out by any citizen, and neither did it approve of Kangana’s tweets that led to the whole incident. “This court does not approve of illegal works or of loose statements made against the government or against the film industry,” it said in its order.
“We are of the view that the petitioner, being a public-spirited person, should exercise some restraint while tweeting,” the order said further. The court, however, added that the comments made against the state or its machinery by a citizen in his or her individual capacity, must be ignored by the state. And if any action is taken at all, it must be within the four walls of the legal system. Any sort of muscle power cannot be indulged in by the state, the court said.
In her petition, Kangana had claimed that the BMC had acted out of malice following her tweets against the Mumbai police that had irked the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government. The BMC had denied the allegations and said that the actor had carried out illegal work at the bungalow and its officials had, therefore, acted in accordance with the law in carrying out the demolition work.
The bench, however, said that the photographs of the site, BMC’s attempts at denying Kangana Ranaut’s allegation, the comments made by Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, the editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ following the demolition, all made it clear that the civic body had acted out of malice.
The court further said that the demolished portions had been in existence for a while and were not part of any ongoing illegal construction as claimed by the BMC. “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,” the bench said.
She is allowed to make her bungalow habitable again and to also make an application to the BMC to carry out restoration of the demolished work, but according to a sanctioned plan, and BMC has to decide within a week, if she makes such an application, said the order. For the portions undemolished, BMC can still take action by issuing notice under section 351 of the Act which provides for seven days for a reply.
Kangana Ranaut had sought Rs 2 crore in damages from the BMC. On the issue of compensation, the bench said it was appointing private firm m/s Shetgiri as the valuer to assess the damages caused in order to calculate the compensation amount due to Kangana. The valuer would hear the petitioner and the BMC on monetary damages caused to her due to the demolition. «The valuer shall by March 2021 pass appropriate orders on compensation,» the court said. The charges of such valuation will be borne by Kangana, the court said.
