Times of India: Mumbai: Tuesday, January 16, 2018.
The Mumbai
civic body has regularised alleged illegal modifications made in properties belonging
to actor Amitabh Bachchan and six others, an RTI query has revealed.The
modifications were regularised by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)
in October last, according to the information obtained by RTI activist Anil
Galgali.
The development
came over two months before the BMC demolished illegal constructions inside BJP
MP and actor Shatrughan Sinha's eight-storey residential bungalow 'Ramayan' in
suburban Juhu earlier this month.
A BMC
official informed in a letter that illegal construction in Wings 1 to 7 at
Oberoi Seven in Yashodhan in Goregaon East was regularised after a revised plan
for the same was approved by the P-South administrative ward, Galgali said.
Bachchan owns
the bungalow, he said.
"A
notice, under Section 53(1) of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, was
issued in December, 2016 to the owners of (the) Wings for illegal
construction," read the letter.
"In
response to the notice, architect Shashank Kokil representing the
owner/residents/developers submitted an amended plan on January 5, 2017 to the
Executive Engineer (Building Proposal), Western Suburbs, P Ward, and the same
was regularised on October 26, 2017," it said.
After the BMC
served notice to Bachchan and others for allegedly carrying out illegal
constructions on their properties, the actor's attorney issued a statement.
"Our
client has purchased a property in Oberoi Seven from M/s.
Oberoi Realty
Limited, vide agreement dated October 29, 2012, registered before the Sub
Registrar of Assurances on November 2, 2012. The property was purchased as a
bare shell and our client has neither put any brick nor taken out any brick
from the said property, hence the question of illegal construction does not
arise," the statement had said.
The BMC had
also issued notices to filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, Pankaj Balaji, Sanjay Vyas,
Haresh Khandelwal, Haris Jagtiani and Oberoi Realty under the Act.