About an year and a half ago, a petition was filed against revamp clearance for Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow ‘Mannat’, seeking to quash the clearance given for 7th and 8th floor under coastal regulation zone (CRZ) regulations. On Tuesday, Supreme Court dismissed the said petition.
The SC was hearing an appeal filed by environmental activist Santosh Daundkar after his plea was dismissed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Western Zone, Pune in September last year. Gauri Khan was named as a party in the plea before NGT as well as Supreme Court.
Daundkar was represented by senior advocate Shoeb Alam who told the court that such a concession should not be made towards a leading film actor. He also stated that any new construction in the area where Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow is located needs prior permission from ministry of environment, forests, and climate change (MoEFCC) for any project worth over Rs 5 crore investment cost, alleging that the said clearance was not duly obtained.
However, The Supreme Court dismissed the petition, also turning down Alam’s request to send the matter back to NGT. “We have serious doubts about your bonafides. Once we have a doubt, we will not entertain your plea,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said.
After Alam argued that the plot in question was earmarked for an art gallery under statutory development plan, a requirement that was deleted in June 2004 without mandatory permission from he Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said, “You are resurrecting a heritage building claim now.”
On a professional front, Shah Rukh has a big release coming up this year with King, the massive multi-starrer actioner directed by Siddharth Anand. King additionally stars Deepika Padukone, Rani Mukerji, Anil Kapoor, and Abhishek Bachchan among many others.
