: Police investigators working for the Kerala Lok Ayukta on Friday told the forum to cancel the registration of 118.5 cents of land on which a posh apartment and commercial complex is being constructed at Pattoor in the city.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mr. Jacob Thomas, told the court that the original deed of the property “appears to be the result of forgery”.
The court had constituted the SIT to find out the truth or falsehood in the complaint that the builder had forged records, falsified orders and reports, and influenced officials to appropriate “public land” bisected by a sewage pipeline laid in the 1960s.
“There is involvement of the Executive at the highest level of governance in the State”, the SIT said. The motive, innocent or mala fide, of the functionaries, including Ministers and top bureaucrats, are evident in government notes and circulars.
The building permit should be revoked forthwith. The edifice should be immediately transferred to the “receiver custody” of the Kerala State Police Housing Corporation. A scientific survey of the property was imperative to estimate the extent of public property appropriated.
The government, since 2009, had continuously ignored cautionary reports, including those by the Vigilance and Comptroller and Auditor General, regarding the illegality of the construction. Officials “wilted” under government pressure to “favour the private pecuniary interests of the builder”, including the reorientation of the pipeline.
The SIT said the builder, T.S. Ashok, and two Urban Affairs Department officials, who were suspended, in the case should be named as the “initial accused” in the graft case.
Scientific survey
of property is a
must: SIT
Wants builder, two govt. officials to be named as initial accused
