Noted actress and MP Jaya Bachchan has failed to get a stay from a court on a move to demolish structures built on land allegedly encroached by her and others living in her apartment complex here.

Bulldozers of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) may now demolish the encroachments that have been allegedly made in front of 24 flats, including two owned by the actress.

A court in Bhopal Monday turned down a petition filed by Jaya Bachchan and 23 other residents of Ansals Apartments in one of the most posh residential localities of Bhopal, which asked that the land occupied by them in front of their flats should not be freed.

Jaya Bachchan owns two flats on the ground floor of Ansals Apartments. Her mother currently lives there.

There are 24 families living in ground-floor flats of Ansals Apartments, who allegedly occupied the open land in front of their homes. They converted the land meant for public use into lawns, garages or servants' quarters.

The encroachment was causing inconvenience for those living on the upper floors. They jointly requested BMC to get the encroachments removed.

On June 6, BMC had asked Jaya Bachchan and the other flat-owners to remove the encroachments.

But all the 24 families went to court saying they had not encroached on any land. They said that they were the rightful owners of the land according to the agreement between them and those who built the colony.

The BMC through its lawyer Sanjay Gupta told the court that Ansals Apartments had no right to sell the land meant for public use. Gupta said the alleged encroachers had no documents to prove that they were the owners of the land that they had allegedly encroached.

Judge Renuka Kanchan turned down the petition filed by Jaya Bachchan and the others Monday and directed BMC to clear the encroachments.

'We are jubilant. We always knew that the encroachers would never be able to get a stay order from the court,' said Kishore Sewansi, a resident of Ansals Apartments who was leading the campaign against the encroachers.

Political parties here have also reacted to the court's order.

'It is a sorry state of affairs that the high and mighty ignore law so blatantly. Ansals Apartments may be the most posh colony of Bhopal, but BMC must take action as soon as possible,' said Manak Agarwal, spokesperson of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Congress party.

A senior BMC official said the body had received the court order and it could take action any day