The Bombay high court on Monday provided relief to actor Sonu Sood by extending till 13 January the stay on a civil court order that dismissed his plea against a notice from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) concerning alleged illegal changes that were made to his building.
The city civil court on 19 December had restrained the BMC from taking any coercive action against the actor for a period of three weeks.
The BMC had accused the actor of converting his six-storey residential building into a hotel. This is the building that Sood had offered to set up isolated residential facilities for medical professionals at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown last year.
Alleging that despite the notice, Sood had continued with the construction work, the BMC filed a police complaint.
In response, Sood had said, "I have taken approval for change of user from the BMC. It was subject to the approval of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority. This permission hasn't come due to COVID-19. There are no irregularities. I always abide by the law."
In response to the BMC's suit, Sood appealed in the civil court, which was dismissed.
The 47-year-old was widely praised for his actions during the pandemic and even received several awards for his efforts to help a large number of stranded migrants return home during the lockdown by hiring buses from Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.