KOCHI: It's perplexing. Only 66 of the 326 flat owners in Maradu have so far submitted claims petitions before the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee which decides compensation for the apartments to be demolished.
As per the information received from the Maradu municipality, Justice K Balakrishnan Nair committee received 41 applications for compensation on Wednesday, in addition to the 21 it got on Monday. If the documents are in order, the owners will receive a maximum compensation of Rs 25 lakh. A municipality official told TNIE that one reason for the delay in submitting the claims petition could be that many flat owners are abroad.
Lower amount documented during purchase of flats in the sale deed during registration could also be a reason for several owners to delay the submission, the official said.
“Nearly 50 flat owners are settled or residing abroad. Most flat owners have also shown a lesser purchase amount in the sale deed to evade heavy stamp duty. How can they claim `25 lakh if the sale deed is much less? Had they been transparent in their payments, the flat owners wouldn’t have faced such a situation. But 80 per cent of the sale wasn’t executed in a proper way,” said a municipality source.
Maradu municipality chairperson TH Nadeera told TNIE: “I don’t know the exact reason, but more than 200 applications are still pending. Meanwhile, a source in the SC committee said the amount announced for the 14 flat owners on Monday was interim compensation.
“The committee has to hear the builder’s petition as well. If the sale deed is above Rs 25 lakh, then flat owner will get that much. The compensation recommended on Monday was just an interim one,” said the source, adding, as of now, there was no deadline for submission of the claims petition.