Sanjay Dutt

Mumbai, Dec. 28: His dad was once the sheriff. Now the sheriff’s office has put Sanjay Dutt on notice.

Compensate the producer or lose the flats.

The Mumbai sheriff’s office, once occupied by the late Sunil Dutt, today pasted notices of attachment on two flats owned by the actor following his financial dispute with producer Shakeel Noorani.

One of the flats is in Imperial Heights, Pali Hill, Bandra, where Sanjay lives. The other is his office in the western suburb of Santacruz.

The notices followed a nod from Bombay High Court, which allowed an arbitration award passed by the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA). The award requires Sanjay to pay Noorani over Rs 2 crore as compensation for losses he suffered.

According to Noorani, Sanjay had taken Rs 50 lakh as signing amount for his film Jaan Ki Baazi in 2001. But when filming began in 2002, Sanjay refused to come for the shoot.

“I approached the IMPPA for arbitration after completing 50 per cent of the film without Dutt. The IMPPA passed the award after being convinced that the film was held up because of Dutt,” said.

The film, which also starred Priyanka Chopra who later quit after a mutual understanding with Noorani, has been stalled, the producer said.

The IMPPA award was passed on January 28, 2010, but Sanjay did not respond. On October 8, Noorani moved the high court, whose execution department directed the sheriff’s office to paste the attachment notices.

“If Dutt fails to pay or respond within 30 days, the property will have to be auctioned to repay the losses incurred by Noorani,” Noorani’s lawyer Ashok Sarogi said.

Sanjay’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde said though the actor hadn’t challenged the IMPPA award, they would contest the order in an “appropriate court”.

“Once the vacation of the high court is over, we will challenge the order in the appropriate court,” Maneshinde said. The high court is on Christmas vacation from December 24 to January 5.