Are commercial establishments allowed to levy parking fees from people who visit them? The issue, cropped up at a council meeting of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation on Thursday, led to heated discussions and a lot of confusion.
Councillor V. Sudheer of Communist Party of India [CPI(M)] said that many shopping malls and other private establishments in the city were levying fees for parking in their parking areas. He deemed it illegal as it was the duty of the establishments to provide enough parking space as per the Kerala Town Planning Act. The confusion over whether the parking space should be provided free of cost reflected in the discussions that followed.
Screening process
Most new buildings in the city had underground parking spaces. However, many of these spaces had been converted into small shops or rented out for some other purpose. Those establishments, especially shopping malls that provided enough parking space, had been levying fees that ranged from Rs.20 to Rs.50 from visitors. The argument of the mall owners was that it was necessary to ensure that the users were genuine visitors. There were some who parked their vehicles in one building and went shopping elsewhere.
Besides parking spaces provided by the buildings, the Corporation had been licensing pay-and-park arrangements by private individuals. Many such facilities were located in different parts of the city. A number of malls and hospitals had procured such licences to arrange parking space for their customers.
Councillor K. Mohammadali of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) demanded that such licensing be made applicable for parking spaces associated with buildings as well and that the Corporation be paid a share of their collection.
Meanwhile, Corporation Town Planning Officer Gireesh Kumar told The Hindu that there was no specific rule regarding the legality of collecting fee for parking beside buildings. “We are only concerned if there is enough parking space. We have no power to intervene in how they screen people who park in their space,” he said.
The issue remained unresolved with the council deciding to investigate the matter further.