Mumbai The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday served a show cause notice to Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana, for unauthorised alterations to the approved plans at their Khar residence on the eighth floor of the Lavie building.
The notice was served within 24 hours of the civic body’s inspections on Monday, under section 351 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act 1888, and listed out 10 illegalities in their house.
Now, the Ranas have seven days to reply to the notice and justify why the alterations should remain and prove further that the work that was done was authorised. If they fail to do so, the civic body will take action under section 475A of MMC Act, which can result in imprisonment or a fine or demolition at their cost.
As per the notice, the illegalities include a void beside the lift that has been merged with the flat and made into a toilet, a prayer room merged with the kitchen and converted into a living room. The lobby area has been merged with the habitable area, the sloping roof has been flattened to merge with a bedroom, a void beside the sloping roof has been converted into a balcony, the living room has been subdivided into kitchen and bedroom, a balcony has been enclosed with an adjoining bedroom, toilet and void on one side has been merged with a bedroom, two bedrooms on one side of the flat are merged, and elevations and projections have been merged with an adjoining bedroom. As per the notice, unauthorised alterations admeasure a total of about 60 square meters.
The BMC said these alterations are beyond plans approved by the executive engineer of the building proposal department.
This is also the first notice issued to Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana, where their names have been explicitly mentioned. The previous notice of inspection by BMC issued on May 2 was addressed to the owner or occupier of the 8th floor of the Lavie building.