Bombay High Court orders attachment of Sanjay Dutt's properties

Recently, on 27.12.2010, the Bombay High Court ordered the attachment of two properties of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt. The case appears to be like this : a film producer Mr. Shakeel Noorani in 2002 had paid Sanjay Dutt a signing amount of Rs.50 lakh for his film Jaan Ki Baazi. But Dutt failed to complete the shooting. As per the claimant Shakeel Noorani, it was only in 2008 that Dutt finally told Noorani that he will not be completing the film, causing financial losses to Noorani. This led Noorani to invoke arbitration and he filed a claim of Rs. 3.28 cr against Sanjay Dutt with the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA). In January 2010, the IMPPA passed an arbitration award in favour of Noorani. He sent the award to Sanjay Dutt and asked him to pay the amount within 90 days but Dutt failed to pay. As per Section 36 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996, the Award can be executed like a decree after the time period for challenging the award (90 days + 30 days) expires. Thus, Noorani filed case No. Ex.A/972/2010 in Bombay High Court for execution of the award/decree. The execution department of the Bombay High Court issued a warrant of attachment under Civil Procedure Code against Dutt and on 27.12.2010 Tuesday the notices of attachment of his properties in Bandra and Santa Cruz were pasted on the premises by the bailiff of the Sheriff's court.