Decide Amitabh Bachchan’s plea first, high court tells BMC in Juhu bungalow row
Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan were served a notice by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to acquire part of the land, on which their bungalow Prateeksha is constructed at Juhu, for extension of a road line.
MUMBAI: In a relief to veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan, the Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner to hear the representation made by the couple against a notice served to them by the civic body to acquire part of the land, on which their bungalow Prateeksha is constructed at Juhu, for extension of a road line.
The high court has also restrained BMC from taking any coercive steps till the representation is heard.
A division bench of justices R D Dhanuka and S M Modak, while hearing the petition filed by the actor and his wife, was informed that the petition was seeking directions to the BMC commissioner to hear them and decide their February 17, 2022 representation against the acquisition of a portion of their plot. The petition also challenged the notices issued to the Bachchans by BMC in April 2017 which said that the civic authority will take possession of parts of the plot as it falls within the regular street line.
The petition claimed that the notices issued to them under section 299 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, 1888 were invalid as they were inconsistent with the relevant sections of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, a central enactment and its operation supersedes the MMC Act. The petition also sought no coercive action till their representation was heard.
After hearing the petition on Wednesday, the bench granted the actors two weeks to make any additional representation to the BMC commissioner if they wanted to add anything to their February 17 representation. The bench directed the commissioner to decide the representation within 6 weeks thereafter. HC also allowed the actors another 3 weeks to take appropriate legal recourse, after the commissioner’s decision on the representation.
The bench disposed of the petition after senior advocate Anil Sakhare and advocate Rohan Mirpury for BMC assured the bench that no coercive action will be taken till the representations were decided.