The Directorate of Panchayats is planning to hold a district-level adalat to settle grievances pertaining to clearance of building plans, regularisation of constructions, and issue of occupancy certificates in grama panchayat areas. The adalat is being planned in the wake of the controversies over the alleged apathy of a few government officials in clearing files. Complaints can be directly submitted to the Office of the Panchayat Deputy Director at the civil station or the local grama panchayat secretary. Applications reaching the authorities by July 11 alone will be considered at the adalat.
Panchayat secretaries have been directed to submit all pending applications till May 31 to the Deputy Director of Panchayats for verification. Based on the standing instructions, the Deputy Director will scrutinise the applications before July 31 and announce the date of the district-level adalat.
The grama panchayat secretary will also be responsible for updating the Deputy Director on the status of various applications submitted for the consideration of other departments. Similarly, details will have to be communicated to the applicants concerned.
The adalat will be held in the presence of a committee comprising representatives of the District Collector, District Town Planner, Principal Agriculture Officer, Local Self-Government Department Executive Engineer, and the local panchayat secretary. A district committee member of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority too will be part of the sitting to address complaints about violation of coastal regulation zone rules.
Heads of panchayats and leaders of the Kerala Grama Panchayat Association have welcomed the move, saying it will bring in transparency in administrative proceedings. Thulasi Padmanabhan, State president of the Kerala Grama Panchayat Association, said the association had wanted to set up a State-level ombudsman or special committee to deal with complaints. “At present, there is no such committee, and we have placed a request before the Chief Minister and the Minister for Local Administration,” she added.
