Mumbai:
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday filed a `caveat’ in a local court, saying it should be heard first if actor Kangana Ranaut challenges a stop-work notice issued to her. BMC officials on Monday carried out an inspection at the actor’s residence in Pali Hill in suburban Bandra, and issued a stop-work notice after noticing several `illegal’ alterations.
A caveat is a request to a court that no order should be passed without hearing the person/party which files it. Meanwhile, Ranaut, through her lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui, responded to the BMC’s notice, accusing its officials of trespassing on her property and making false claims.
The BMC notice asked Ranaut to respond within 24 hours as to whether necessary approvals were taken before carrying out construction at her house. The civic body claimed that a toilet on the premises was converted into an office cabin and new toilets were constructed alongside a staircase.
“No work is being carried out by my client (Kangana) in her premises as falsely understood by you (BMC). Therefore the Stop Work Notice issued is absolutely bad in law and appears to have been issued only to intimidate my client by misusing your dominant position,” Ranaut’s lawyer said in the letter to Executive Engineer, H/West Ward. Ranaut would legally respond to the notice within seven days and in the meantime the BMC should not misuse its “dominant position” to cause prejudice to the actor with any “hidden agenda coupled with ulterior motives”, it said.
“My client has the right to prosecute the officers for trespassing upon her premises illegally with a criminal intent to cause injury,” the letter added. The BMC filed the caveat before a civil court, saying pursuant to the notice issued to Ranaut, she is likely to file a suit challenging it.
“Let nothing be done in the matter unless prior notice is given to us,” the caveat application said. Ranaut’s recent remark comparing Mumbai to Pakistan- occupied-Kashmir (PoK) has drawn the ire of the ruling Shiv Sena which also controls the BMC.
