After CBI and ED, Maharashtra’s political battles now via civic body

The latest instance of the BMC apparently wading into a political controversy is a house inspection notice issued to lawmaker-couple Navneet and Ravi Rana — Navneet is the MP from Amravati while Ravi is the MLA from Badnera — on Monday for their flat in Mumbai’s Khar West area. The notice was served under Section 488 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, to inform the couple that a BMC team would inspect their flat to check for any unauthorised construction. The team visited the apartment on Wednesday but returned after finding it locked.

The Ranas courted controversy last month after threatening to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence. With Sena workers hitting the streets in protest, the lawmakers were arrested on April 23. They got out of prison on Thursday on bail.

Besides the couple, Union minister and former CM Narayan Rane and BJP functionary Mohit Kamboj, critics of the Sena and the MVA, are facing corporation inquiry over alleged unauthorised constructions. The two leaders have claimed that the BMC’s notices to them are part of the ruling alliance’s vendetta politics.

Rane who owns an eight-storey, sea-facing bungalow in Juhu approached the Bombay High Court to get an interim stay on a notice from the civic body. Kamboj who owns floors in a building in Mumbai’s Khar Road West area replied to the BMC, defending the alleged unauthorised construction in his home.

In another case, the BMC served a notice on advocate Gunratna Sadavarte last month after he was arrested for allegedly instigating a mob that attacked NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s house in Worli on April 8. Sadavarte was spearheading protests by workers of the MSRTC. As per the BMC notice, Sadavarte’s flat in Parel’s Crystal Tower was constructed in violation of approved building plans in an area demarcated as a “fitness centre”.

One of the high-profile controversies with the BMC also involved actress Kangana Ranaut, who is seen as someone with close links to the BJP. In September 2020, a team from the BMC issued a notice to Ranaut’s office in Bandra West, asking her to submit documents to prove the legality of her work. Her office was demolished a day after the notice was served.