The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) may expunge some of the controversial file notes and a stay order issued by its former chairman regarding the DLF Builders from its agenda.
The notes made by V. Rajasekharan Pillai would be expunged following a demand from its members at the meeting of the authority held on Monday.
According to a member of the authority, Mr. Pillai had issued an order to the Kochi Corporation asking it to lift the stop memo slapped on DLF Builders by the authority. The chairman had no powers to withdraw or cancel the decisions of the authority. Hence the decision to make his order null and void, he said.
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Another member pointed out that Mr. Pillai had included some comments and notes in the agenda of the meeting, which was convened to discuss a report of the three-member sub-committee of the KCZMA that looked into the reported CRZ violations by DLF Builders at Chilavannoor. These notes had nothing to do with the proceedings of the meeting.
The agenda could only contain the details of what transpired at the meeting, he said.
Commenting on the developments, a senior functionary of the authority said the meeting had authorised the new chairman of the authority to look into the legality of the suggestions of the members and take appropriate decisions.
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When contacted, Mr. Pillai said that after assuming the office of the chairman of the authority, he had instructed that the files pertaining to DLF should be placed before the KCZMA before sending it to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for approval. However, this was overlooked by the officials of the authority and the files were sent to the ministry. Though the Member Secretary of the authority was directed to attend a meeting convened by the MoEF in this regard, he didn’t attend, he said.
A note on these developments was given to the Chief Minister, the MoEF and the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority and the file with these recordings was circulated among the members of the KCZMA in a subsequent meeting. As these developments were not recorded in the proceedings, they were included in the minutes as a note, he said.
K.K. Ramachandran, Member Secretary of the authority, said he was denied permission by the chairman to attend the meeting after making all arrangements, including travel and boarding facility. A report of the Chief Secretary to the State government on the controversial issue would vouch for this, he said.
Mr. Pillai said he had made it clear that his notes were not in conflict with the findings of the KCZMA sub-committee. The decision on the stop memo was irrelevant as the very order was cancelled subsequently, Mr. Pillai said.