Bombay High Court rejects Uddhav Sena MLA's plea in luxury hotel case

The Bombay High Court refused to grant any relief to Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Ravindra Waikar regarding a plot of land in suburban Mumbai. The bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Rajesh Patil on Friday said "There is no merit and the petition is rejected."

Advocate Joel Carlos, appearing for Waikar, had requested that a status quo be maintained as was given in June 21 order by the bench. At that time, the court had sought a reply of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and had ordered a status quo be maintained till the next hearing.

The status quo had been extended from time to time. The bench had reserved its order on Waikar's petition on August 7. Through the petition, Waikar was seeking the quashing of the BMC order that halted the construction of a hotel in Mumbai.

On Friday, the court dismissed Waikar’s petition, but stayed its order for four weeks to enable the Shiv Sena MLA to approach the Supreme Court.

WHAT’S THE CASE?

In 2021, when Ravindra Waikar's party was part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the BMC had granted him permission to build a hotel on a plot in Jogeshwari East. Waikar had purchased a 2-acre plot in 2004 from Mahal Pictures Pvt Ltd (Kamal Amrohi Studios), and there was an agreement between the two sides and BMC regarding the division of the land.

On February 8, 2023, Waikar was unexpectedly called to explain a complaint that the BMC had received. He responded to the BMC, but received no further communication. On June 15, 2023, Waikar received an order from BMC revoking the development permissions granted in January 2021. It is against this order that Waikar has approached the High Court.

The BMC, seeking dismissal of his plea, argued that Waikar had suppressed certain facts while filing the permission documents online, which led to action being taken.

The bench had questioned BMC, asking why the permission was granted in the first place, and if Waikar had indeed suppressed facts, then why no action was taken against the officials responsible for the oversight.

Meanwhile, during the hearing, the court refused to entertain BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's intervention application, stating that the civic authority had capable counsel to handle its business, making his intervention unnecessary. Somaiya had complained about Waikar, while the latter claimed that the complaint was made with the intention of politicising the issue.