A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday suo motu impleaded the Director of Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP) as a respondent in a contempt case for failure to comply with a court directive to complete the drain works at Panampilly Nagar. The Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice K. Vinod Chandran issued the order when counsel for the Kochi Corporation submitted that the civic body had not got the director’s approval for the work even after he was told of the court directive.
The contempt petition was filed by Peter Augustine, a resident in the area. According to him, Kochi Corporation had not taken any steps to implement the High Court order.
The court had directed the corporation to complete the abandoned drain construction project using round pipes. The drain would solve the problem of flooding in Perumanoor, Ravipuram and Panampilly Nagar areas.
The court while issuing the directive had made it clear that in view of the monsoon, all steps should be taken to complete the work in time to avoid inconvenience to residents. The failure of the corporation to comply with the directive amounted to contempt of court, he argued.
