Journalism of Courage
The country’s richest civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has lately been sending notices over alleged unauthorised constructions at properties owned by the political opponents of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), actions that those at the receiving end have labelled “political vendetta”.
This is happening even as several MVA leaders such as Nawab Malik, Anil Parab, Ajit Pawar, and Sanjay Raut and their families face inquiries from central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Income-Tax Department (I-T), and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
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 (MMC) 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 private residence. With Shiv Sena workers hitting the streets in protest, the lawmakers were arrested on April 23. They got out of prison on Thursday after getting bail the day before.
Besides the couple, Union minister and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane and BJP functionary Mohit Kamboj, staunch critics of the Sena and the MVA government, 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 in March 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 last month, 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 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s house in Worli on April 8. Sadavarte was spearheading protests by workers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (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 in the middle involved actress Kangana Ranaut, who is seen as someone with close links to the BJP. In September 2020, a team from the civic body’s H-West ward (Bandra) 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. Ranaut had raised questions about the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and was subsequently involved in a war of words with Sanjay Raut, a Sena MP in the Rajya Sabha. The actress also lashed out at Uddhav Thackeray over the entire episode.
