The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has served a new notice to actor Sonu Sood, asking him to restore a six-storey structure, that was earlier turned into a hotel, back to a residential building.
In July, Sood had agreed to restore the building in question from an unauthorised hotel back into residential premises. In its new notice, the BMC claimed the work has not been completed yet and has questioned the actor about this.
“You have stated in your letter that you discontinued the activity of lodging/boarding on the existing first to sixth floors of the building and it shall be used for residential purposes as per the sanctioned plan. Also, you have mentioned that necessary work for addition/alteration/restoration is under progress,” the notice read. “This office inspected the site on October 20 and observed that you have not yet restored the work as per the approved plan,” the notice added.
Sood, however, told Times of India that he had already converted the Shakti Sagar building on Juhu’s AB Nair Road into a residential structure from a hotel. “We have already carried out the restoration. We have submitted the details to the BMC and the documentation process is underway. I am not carrying out any unauthorised activity and it will remain a residential structure as per the approved plan,” the actor said.
In June 2018, Sood had filed a proposal with the Building and Proposal Department of BMC’s K-West ward office to convert the six-storey residential building into a hotel for lodging. But the BMC had returned the proposal in September 2018 noting that it not comply with all its norms.
The actor did not submit an amended proposal and in January 2019, officials visited the premises and found that a lodging facility was being operated there without a legal license. The BMC subsequently issued an unauthorised construction notice to Sood.
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Sood had moved the Bombay High Court against this BMC notice but the actor was denied relief. He then moved the Supreme Court in January 2021. In his plea to the SC, Sood had claimed that the construction on his bungalow was granted partial approval by the BMC commissioner and was awaiting clearance from the Mumbai coastal regulation zone authority.
The actor later withdrew his plea and agreed to reconvert the premises back to a residential building. It is his alleged failure to do so that has drawn this new notice from BMC.