Actor Sood a habitual offender of illegal construction:HC told

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood is a''habitual offender'' who keeps carrying out unauthorisedconstruction work in a residential building in suburban Juhudespite demolition action initiated on two occasions in thepast, the Mumbai civic body stated in its affidavit filed inthe Bombay High Court on Tuesday.

The affidavit was filed in response to the petitionfiled by Sood last week challenging a notice issued againsthim by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Octoberlast year and an order passed by a civil court in December2020 dismissing his suit against the notice.

In its notice, the BMC had alleged that Sood carriedout structural changes in the six-storey residential building'Shakti Sagar' and was converting it into a commercial hotel.

''The appellant is a habitual offender and wants toenjoy the commercial proceeds of the unauthorised work andtherefore once again started reconstructing the demolishedportion in order to make it operational as a hotel albeitillegally and without permission from the License department,''the civic body said in the affidavit.

As per the affidavit, Sood was trying to protect an''ex-facie illegal commercial hotel which has been constructedand modified by the appellant (Sood) contrary to thesanctioned building plan''.

''The appellant has not been given permission forchange of user of the said property from residential tocommercial and there is no license to run the commercialhotel,'' the affidavit said.

It added that Sood had sought umbrage underunwarranted and baseless allegations of harassment andmalafides.

''The appellant, who has totally modified an entirebuilding unauthorisedly into a hotel, is running the samewithout a license,'' the municipal corporation said.

The BMC said initial action was initiated against theillegal construction in September 2018 but Sood continued theconstruction work.

On November 12, 2018, demolition of the unauthorisedwork was carried out.

''Such is the audacity of the appellant that he onceagain started alterations and reconstructed the demolishedportion. Therefore, the BMC once again took action ofdemolition on February 14, 2020,'' the affidavit said.

It said Sood had no documents to even indicate that heor his wife Sonali Sood are the owners of the said building.

The petition will be heard on Wednesday by JusticePrithviraj Chavan.

The high court on Monday extended till Wednesday thecivil court's order restraining the BMC from taking a coerciveaction against the alleged illegal construction.

Sood in his plea had claimed that he had not carriedout any illegal or unauthorised construction in the six-storeyShakti Sagar building.

''The petitioner (Sood) has not made any changes in thebuilding that warrants permission from the BMC. Only thosechanges that are allowed under the Maharashtra Regional andTown Planning (MRTP) Act have been done,'' Sood's advocateAmogh Singh had argued.

The petition had requested the court to quash and setaside the notice issued by the BMC in October, 2020, and alsosought an interim relief to not take any coercive actionagainst the actor.

Sood, who is known for his roles in films like''Dabangg'', ''Jodha Akbar'' and ''Simmba'', came into spotlight in2020 for his philanthropy work in helping migrants reach theirhomes during the COVID-19 lockdown.