KOCHI: The ruling CPM may have given a clean chit to Anthoor municipality chairperson PK Shyamala in the suicide of an NRI investor, but some documents submitted to the Kerala High Court show how the party-run civic body harassed the entrepreneur incessantly. Notices were served on Sajan Parayil repeatedly citing violations in the construction of his auditorium over the past three years, the documents furnished by the municipality secretary show.
The municipality served five notices on his father-in-law Paloli Purushothaman, who had filed the application seeking permission on behalf of Sajan, and each time he made alterations and re-submitted the application, the municipal authorities were vigilant enough to spot new problems. And it seems Sajan decided to take the extreme step after realising that the municipality would never give a completion certificate for his `15-crore project citing some reason or the other.
Municipal secretary M K Gireesh furnished the documents along with his petition seeking anticipatory bail in the case. Gireesh said the municipality had no grudge towards Sajan. As per the bail application, building permit was issued to Purushothaman on May 25, 2016. The municipality first directed him to stop construction work on November 29, 2017, following an inspection by the municipal engineer. Purushothaman furnished a reply, but a second notice was issued on January 30, 2018 citing the explanation was unsatisfactory.
On September 19, 2018, Purushothaman submitted a representation requesting the secretary and district town planner to conduct a joint inspection and allow him to complete the construction.Inspection was conducted on October 31, 2018, but the officials reported a concrete slab near the parking floor as a violation. And another notice was served, the documents, accessed by TNIE, show.
Purushothaman complied with it and submitted a report on January 17, 2019 and he was allowed to proceed with the construction. Later Purushothaman submitted an application for completion certificate.
An overseer conducted the inspection this time, but found there was not enough parking space. The officer also said sewage plant was not shown in the completion plan. Another notice was served on April 29, 2019. Changes were made to the parking plan, still the overseer was not convinced. A third parking plan was submitted on May 21, 2019.
The municipal engineer verified it and placed the report before the secretary on May 28. He found more violations and forwarded the file again to the municipal engineer on June 6, 2019 raising certain queries.
Following this, the overseer conducted another inspection and listed seven violations including vacant space, a solar panel (which was added later), truss work on roof, number of urinal closets and slanting of the ramp. A notice was prepared on June 15, 2019 to be served on Purushothaman to rectify the defects, but Sajan committed suicide on June 18 before the municipality could serve the notice.