THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Posing further troubles to the upcoming mall and apartment complex at Pattoor here, the Lokayukta on Tuesday ordered the Thiruvananthapuram district collector to take over 4.356 cents of government land being illegally occupied by the private builder Artech. Already 12.279 cents of land illegally occupied by the builder was taken over by the government as per an order of the Lok Ayukta in 2015. A bench comprising Lok Ayukta Justice Pius C. Kuriakose and Upa Lokayukta Justice K.P. Balachandran directed in the interim order that the compliance report of the order should be filed within two weeks. Apart from 4.356 cents, the Lokayukta also ordered taking over of another 1.06- cent puramboke land illegally possessed by other private parties.
The case will be considered again on May 22. Advocate Suresh Babu, who appeared for petitioner Joy Kaitharam, said that the mall and apartment complex would become an illegal construction with the implementation of the Lokayukta order. Portions of the generator room of the apartment, mall and its parking areas would come in the 4.356 cents to be taken over, he said.
"The company obtained the permit for the building by showing about 225 cents in their possession. Now the Lokayukta has found that 16.635 cents of this was illegally possessed by the builder. This would affect the mandatory setback area and floor area ratio of the building and hence it would turn out to be an illegal construction," said Mr Suresh Babu. Meanwhile, the company is planning to approach the court seeking a stay. They hope that since the building was already constructed, it could be regularised by citing many precedents.
Advocate Abdul Kareem, who appeared for the builder, said that an appeal might be filed before the High Court soon. The impact of taking over of 4.356 cents would be known only after identifying the exact layout of the 4.356 cents. The average market price of one cent of land at Pattoor would come to around Rs 50 lakh and hence the cost of around 16.5 cents found to be illegally occupied by the builder would come to over '8 crore, sources pointed out.
Former chief secretary E.K. Bharat Bhushan and additional chief secretary (revenue) Niveditha P. Haran are among the respondents in the case. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy even faced allegations of favouring the builder. But a Vigilance case in this regard was recently quashed by the High Court. Mr Oommen Chandy said in a statement that the steps taken by the UDF government with regard to the Pattoor case were transparent. It was during the time of previous UDF government that the Lokayukta initially ordered to take over 12.279 cents and the government swiftly implemented it.
Anyone could examine the files even now, Mr Chandy said. He recalled that the High Court had quashed a Vigilance case against him and others in connection with the allegations regarding diverting the sewage pipe. Moreover, the Lokayukta had rejected a petition to arraign him as well as former revenue minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan in the encroachment case, he said.
