ALAPPUZHA: In a virtual shove in the face for the powers be, Alappuzha municipal council on Wednesday rejected the government’s request to reduce the fine slapped on Lake Palace Resort owned by former Minister Thomas Chandy.
The council meeting which turned down the plea, asked the resort owners to approach the Tribunal for Local Self-Government Institutions against the municipality’s decision.
Thomas Joseph, chairman, said the regional joint director took the decision to minimise the penalty in haste. “The council observed the state government has no right to intervene in the matter and the resort could file an appeal before the tribunal. The council also recommended a vigilance probe against the regional joint director, who retired a day after submitting the report,” he said.
The municipality had slapped a Rs 1.17-crore fine for constructing structures in the resort beyond the permissible limit. However, the resort appealed against the decision and Urban Affairs Department regional joint director VR Raju after conducting an inspection in May submitted a report to the government against the municipality’s findings. It suggested slashing the fine to Rs 34 lakh.
In November 2018, the municipality issued a provisional order to the Water World Tourism Company, promoters of the resort, to demolish or regularise the unauthorised buildings. The municipal authorities said the joint inspection revealed the company had constructed 10 buildings without the civic body’s permission. The probe found the firm extended 22 buildings in the resort without obtaining necessary permission from the municipality.
Later, the resort submitted an application for regularising unauthorised constructions and the municipality slapped an initial fine of Rs 2.73 crore. The resort owners paid the fine for 10 buildings. Later, the resort submitted relevant documents of six structures. Following this, the municipality slashed the penalty to Rs 1.17 crore for the 16 structures, the chairman said.