Kerala HC flays Maradu municipality for not complying with Kochi structural plan

The Kerala High Court has criticised the Maradu municipality for not complying with the Structural Plan for the Central City of Kochi which places certain restrictions on construction of buildings in certain zones.

The court made the observation recently while disposing of a batch of petitions against the refusal of the municipality to regularise residential buildings with plinth areas above 300 sq m constructed in the areas under the agricultural zone or to grant permits for construction of buildings in such areas. When the petitions came up for hearing, the court had directed the municipality to file an affidavit with regard to the number of residential/commercial buildings or any other building located in the area and also, the plinth area and nature of those buildings. The list produced with the affidavit showed that six buildings having more than 300 sq m area had come up near the property of one of the petitioners which falls in the agricultural zone.

The court said: “it is thus clear that the structural plan and the restrictions thereon have not been complied with by the municipality and they have allowed commercial buildings to come up in violation of the Master Plan and the scheme.”

The court also recalled the observations made earlier by it in similar cases. The court had then said that though technically the master plan was in existence, it was never followed up on by the authorities. The authorities themselves had to be blamed for such a situation. The court noted that in yet another case as well, the court had observed that apart from deliberate violations, failure to take note of the zonal regulations and plans under the Town and Country Planning Act, lack of awareness and so on had contributed to the infractions of the law. The court had then called for integration of the information regarding zonal regulations with the revenue records such as land registers and thandaper accounts to help improve the situation. If the information on the location of the properties within any zone was easily noticeable from the revenue records, violations, intentional or on account of ignorance, could be curtailed more effectively, the court had observed.

Published - November 24, 2024 06:41 pm IST