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Ali filed a PIL because he was refused a flat only on the ground that he is a Muslim.
Aamir Ali, a television actor, filed a PIL aggrieved at being refused a house in Springfield Co-
operative Housing Society at Lokhandwala, “just because he is a Muslim”. In his petition, he prays no citizen should be discriminated on grounds of caste, creed or religion.
A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud has ordered the state to respond to the petition in four weeks.
Alleging discrimination, Ali’s petition urges the court to direct the state Government and the registrar of co-operative housing societies to ensure membership was not denied to an individual because he belonged to a particular community.
In November 2006, when Ali was looking for a flat in Lokhandwala complex, Andheri, he was impressed with a flat shown to him by his broker in Springfield Co-operative Housing Society.
However, he says, broker M Kukreja told him that the society would not allow him to become a member because he is a Muslim. Ali claims he discovered later that such treatment was meted out to other people as well.
His solicitor Mustafa Motiwala said, “Ali filed a PIL because he is refused a flat only on the ground that he was a Muslim.”
Arguing on behalf of Ali, senior counsel Arif Bookwalla told the court that an apex court judgment relating to a matter in Gujarat covered only Zoroastrians, where land was allotted to the community and they had the power to deny membership to a non-Zoroastrian.
“That apex court judgment applies only in cases where people from a community come together and decide to construct a building, which allows only their people. However, in a regular co-operative society where a cosmopolitan crowd resides, you cannot disallow anyone membership on the basis of religion,” added Motiwala.
Recently the high court ordered the state government to answer questions raised by Ali within four weeks. Real estate brokers say there are many reasons why it’s hard for Muslims to find a flat. People have become a little more rigid about their lifestyles, more outwardly religious, says Kishore Alreja, a broker in South Mumbai.
The city has created its own lingo to keep some communities out, he says. “Like in Walkeshwar, Napeansea area, there are a lot of Jain buildings with temples in the building, so they don’t allow non-vegetarians,” he says. “It becomes that much harder for Muslims to find a place.”
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