A television actor, Aamir Ali, has filed a PIL aggrieved at being refused a house in the hub of television industry —Lokhandwala — “just because he was a Muslim”.

In his petition, he prays no other 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 was 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 was 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.

... contd.