KOCHI: Justice Balakrishnan Nair Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to consider the compensation for the Maradu flat owners on Thursday cleared 45 petitions and directed the state government to disburse an interim compensation of Rs 6.3 crore. Only four owners (of Alfa Serene, Jain’s Coral Cove) will receive the full interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh each.
An owner of two apartments had claimed a compensation of Rs 3.10 crore. The committee recommended the lowest compensation amount of Rs 13.15 lakh to a resident of Golden Kayaloram whose actual claim was for Rs 69.9 lakh. Meanwhile, a total of 130 claim petitions were submitted before the committee on Thursday, taking the total number of applicants filing for compensation to 196, out of 326 flat owners.
Officials said the committee will consider the remaining petitions on Friday. Regarding lesser compensation amount for others, the committee clarified in the documented proceedings, “It doesn’t mean that the others are ineligible to get the said amount.
But the documents produced by them to support their claims are only in part. We could have waited for (them) to produce documents in support of their claim in full. But to avoid the delay and help the claimants, we are ordering payment of the amounts which are found due to them without any dispute.”
The proceedings also stated that in the cases of those who were not awarded Rs 25 lakh, it was decided to request for further details like receipts issued by the builder, evidence of bank transfer of amounts to the builder etc. “On producing these, the committee will reconsider the claims,” the proceedings read. On Monday, the committee had cleared 14 claim applications and recommended a compensation of Rs 2.56 crore.
Verdict on builder’s anticipatory bail plea on Oct 22
Kochi: The Ernakulam District and Sessions Court will pronounce its judgment on the anticipatory bail plea of Alpha Ventures director Paul Raj, one of the directors of the builders of an apartment complex in Maradu slated for demolition, on October 22. The arguments of the prosecution and defence counsel completed on Thursday. Paul Raj moved the court seeking anticipatory bail on Monday, a day before he was to appear for questioning before the special investigation team (SIT) of the Crime Branch probing the alleged rule violations by builders of the high-rises.
The Crime Branch had registered a case against him under IPC Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property). The case was registered after Susan Thomas, a resident of an Alfa Serene apartment at Maradu, lodged a complaint with Panangad police alleging Paul had cheated her by concealing the cases registered against the flat construction flouting CRZ norms.