The State government on Wednesday informed the Kerala High Court that P.I. Shiekh Pareed, former Ernakulam District Collector and now Director, Kerala Tourism, had deliberately bypassed the official procedure while permitting a bar to function in a government land acquired for metro works in the city. The submission was made in a statement filed by the Vigilance in response to a petition filed by Mr. Pareed challenging the case registered against him. According to Mr. Pareed, he had only exercised his power vested in him to allow the building owner to remove the movables, including liquor kept inside the building. In fact, he had only instructed the excise authorities to permit the bar owner to take away the movables and other articles.
The Vigilance said neither the officials of the Ernakulam village office nor the District Collectorate could produce any representation submitted by the bar owner E.K Uthaman seeking permission to remove the movables.
