Illegal construction at Union min’s bungalow to be demolished; Rs 10L fine imposed

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Mumbai civic body to demolish the unauthorised construction at Union minister Narayan Rane’s bungalow in Juhu area here, noting it had violated the Floor Space Index (FSI) and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.
Floor space index (FSI) is the maximum permissible floor area that can be built on a particular plot or /piece of land.
A division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and Kamal Khata said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cannot be permitted to consider and allow the second application filed by a company run by the Rane family seeking regularisation of the unauthorised construction as it would “encourage wholesale construction of unauthorised structures”.
The court directed the BMC to demolish the unauthorised parts of the bungalow within a period of two weeks and submit a compliance report to the court one week thereafter.
The bench also imposed a cost of Rs 10 lakh on Rane and directed for the amount to be deposited towards the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority within two weeks.
Rane’s advocate Shardul Singh sought that the court stay its order for six weeks so that he could approach the Supreme Court in appeal.