BMC will referee in Bharat Shah land dispute
It is now up to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to resolve a land dispute between film financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah and Royal Palms (India) Ltd.
The legal department of the civic body moved into action after Shah’s associate, Ramesh Shah, lodged a complaint on Febuary 28 at BMC’s Goregaon office, accusing Royal Palms owners Nenseys’ of carrying out illegal construction on a plot owned by the merchant at Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon. Just a couple of days before that, the same office had received a letter from Aarey Police, asking whether the BMC had given permission to Nenseys’ to undertake construction work.
A senior engineer with the BMC’s building proposals department (western suburbs), who visited the site on Tuesday, said, “There was some levelling work going in on one of the plots. But as the documents submitted with Shah’s complaint were inconclusive, we do not know whether it was the exact location. So, till the time our legal department verify the documents, we will be asking Royal Palms to stop the work.”
Shah lodged a complaint with Malabar Hill police station on Tuesday, alleging that he was receiving calls threatening him and his family of dire consequences if he did not withdraw the complaint against Royal Palms.
Anoop Mehta, a senior member of Bombay Diamond Merchants’ Association, too, lodged a complaint against Nenseys’ at Goregaon police station. Both Mehta and Shah purchased two 25-acre plots from Royal Palms in 1993, each paying Rs 1.6 crore. Currently, the plots are worth Rs130 crore each.
Rubbishing Shah’s claim as “an attempt to vilify them”, Royal Palms Vice-President (Administration) Dilip Uplekar stated in a release that the company had submitted a written statement and documents to Goregaon police “falsifying Shah’s claim”.
BMC Commissioner Johny Joseph told DNA that the civic body’s legal department had taken up the issue. “We will be consulting senior counsel KK Singhvi to resolve the issue. If required, we will also seek advice from Advocate General Ravi Kadam.”