A day after demolishing Kangana Ranaut’s office, it has emerged that Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has issued a show-cause notice to celebrity fashion designer Manish Malhotra for allegedly making "unauthorised alterations" at his office building. The BMC notice, dated September 7, has sought a reply from Manish within seven days.
Manish Malhotra’s property is reportedly located next to that of actor Kangana Ranaut, whose Bandra bungalow was demolished by the civic body on Wednesday for alleged illegal alterations as well.
Mumbai Mirror, which reported details of the notice against Manish Malhotra, stated that the civic body has found four violations at his office located on Nargis Dutt Road at Pali Hill, which are: Unauthorised change of use from residential to commercial on the first floor, unauthorised erection of partitions/cabins on the first floor, unauthorised construction of two structures with brick masonry wall and a cement sheet roof on the second floor terrace, and unauthorised construction of a shed with steel angles and a cement sheet roof on the same terrace.
High drama was witnessed in Mumbai on Thursday as the BMC carried out demolitions at the actor’s bungalow. The actor, who was on her way to Mumbai from Himachal Pradesh, had lashed out at the Maharashtra government for demolishing her home, allegedly without giving her enough notice.
According to sources, the civic body pulled down most of the alleged structural changes made on the ground and the first floors of Kangana’s property. These included a toilet on the ground floor and a meeting room on the first floor.
On Tuesday morning, the BMC had issued a stop-work notice to the "ongoing renovation and finishing work" of Ranaut's office on Nargis Dutt Road.
In that notice, the civic body had listed 14 different things as unauthorised constructions in the bungalow, including conversion of a toilet on the ground floor into office space, construction of kitchen inside store room, new toilets near store room, conversion of balcony into habitable area, merging of one bungalow into another and extension of third floor.
On Wednesday morning, the civic body posted another notice outside her bungalow, informing her about the action it would be taking, the official said.
Kangana, a three-time National Award winner, tweeted some of the videos and photos of the demolition process.
"I am never wrong and my enemies prove again and again this is why my Mumbai is POK now," Kangana tweeted, soon after the demolition work began. Her lawyer soon moved the Bombay High Court, challenging the notice issued by the BMC for "illegal' construction at her bungalow.
The Bombay High Court later stayed the demolition saying the civic body's conduct was "malafide" and "deplorable". A division bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and R I Chagla asked why the BMC gave only 24 hours to Ranaut to respond to its stop-work notice and went on to take action when she was outside Maharashtra.
Talking to reporters outside the actor's office after the stay order, her lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui said, "The BMC is lying. It's lying on record (about illegal construction at the bungalow). They said they have given stop-work notice. But such notice is given when the construction process is underway."
Ranaut's recent remark comparing Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) has drawn the ire of the ruling Shiv Sena. She had said that she feared Mumbai Police more than the "movie mafia,” and would prefer security either from Himachal Pradesh or the Centre.
The 33-year-old Queen actor, who returned to Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon from her home state Himachal Pradesh, alleged that the Maharashtra government was targeting her because of her clash with the Shiv Sena.
With PTI inputs