A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday declined to close a contempt of court case against the Kochi Corporation for its delay in complying with a directive to construct a drain at Panampilly Nagar as it wanted to know the progress of the work.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon observed that the court had to see whether the corporation really intended to comply with its directive. “We would like to know the progress of the work,” the court said. The contempt of court case “need not be closed,” the court added.
Corporation’s standIn an affidavit, corporation Additional Secretary A.S. Anuja said the District Collector had ordered shifting of pipelines and telephone cables near the site. The water authority had shifted its pipelines. The contractors of the work had been persuaded to proceed with the work of a culvert at the site to a further length of 4 metres so that the traffic could be diverted to the completed portion of the culvert and 40 days were needed to complete the work. By the time, the BSNL’s lines would be shifted and the work of the culvert could be completed. Accordingly, the work of the 5 cross road could be expected to commence from September.
It would take at least two months to complete the works given the slow pace of work during the rainy season. In fact, the works could be completed by October, the affidavit said. The empowered committed headed by the Minister for Urban Affairs had allowed the corporation to extend the time to complete the work till October 31. The affidavit , therefore, sought to extend the time till October 31 to complete the work.
The affidavit added that there was no purposeful delay on the part of the corporation. The delay had occurred because of the unexpected obstructions, it said.
