VACB raids municipal, Corporation offices

Unearths irregularities in issue of building permits

In a Statewide operation on Saturday, officials of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted an inspection of Corporations and municipalities and unearthed serious irregularities in the issue of building permits and occupancy certificates.

Prior to the raid, Vigilance officials had mounted a surveillance of the officials alleged to be involved in corruption and violation of rules in issuing building permits. The operation was based on a number of complaints received by VACB Director B.S. Mohammed Yasin. Under the Right to Services Act, local bodies are required to issue building permit within 30 days of receiving an application while occupancy certificates are to be issued within 15 days.

Applications piled up

During the inspection, the VACB team found 2,900 applications piled up in various Corporations and municipalities without being disposed of. As many as 1,200 applications for occupancy certificate were also detected.

The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation could not provide even the number of applications for occupancy certificate. VACB officials said many multi-storey buildings were found to have constructed cellar floors without the mandatory clearance of the Revenue and Geology departments.

Norms violated

A press note issued by the VACB at the end of the raid said local bodies had indiscriminately issued building permits in violation of the norms. Vigilance officials also came across violation of the building permit in a large number of constructions that had been issued occupancy certificate by municipal officials in the Palluruthy zonal office of the Kochi Corporation and the Nilambur, Kalpetta, Pathanamthitta, Koduvally, Kanhangad, and Karunagapally municipalities.

The raids covered 49 municipalities and five Corporations. Mr.Yasin said the irregularities detected during the raid would be reported to the government.