The Alappuzha municipality has slapped a penalty of ₹2.73 crore on the Lake Palace Resort.
In November 2018, the municipality, based on a joint inspection report, issued a provisional order to the Water World Tourism Company, promoters of the resort, of which former Transport Minister Thomas Chandy is a director, to demolish or regularise unauthorised buildings at the resort.
After receiving the order, the company submitted an application before the municipality for regularising structures constructed unlawfully.
“While issuing the provisional order, we had given them 15 days to submit application for regularising the unauthorised constructions. They submitted the application within the stipulated time frame for regularising 32 structures. The company has evaded paying tax for these buildings and the municipality has decided to slap a fine of ₹2.73 crore on them. They will be given 15 days’ time to pay the amount. The municipality will start proceedings to regularise the unauthorised structures only after receiving the penalty amount,” Alappuzha municipal secretary S. Jahangir said.
The tax and penalty were calculated as per Section 242 of the Kerala Municipality Act. A meeting of the Alappuzha municipal council on Tuesday gave its nod to slap penalty on the resort.
Joint inspection
Officials said the joint inspection revealed that the company had constructed 10 buildings, some up to 3,000 sq ft., without the permission of the municipality. Further, the probe found that it extended 22 buildings in the resort without obtaining necessary permission from the authorities concerned.
The joint inspection team, comprising officials from revenue, tax, and engineering wings, was deployed after several documents related to the resort were found missing from the office of the civic body.
