The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Friday carried out surprise checks at the six municipal Corporations in the State and some of their zonal offices as part of a special drive called Operation Nirman, following complaints of corruption in the processing of building permit applications.
The officials found that some of the applications were kept aside without noting down the information in the register or taking any action with regard to them with the intention of demanding money.
At the Vizhinjam zonal office of the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation, it was found that the amount collected under various heads on December 29 was not remitted to the treasury till Friday. The log book of the Corporation vehicles were not being maintained.
At the Venpalavattom zonal office in the capital, no action had been taken on an application submitted in 2019 for a building construction in 2.5 cents of land. At the Vattiyurkavu office, some of the building permit applications were found to be rejected, but the applicants were not informed even several months later.
At the Thrissur Corporation, some of the building permit applications were rejected without any reason, while some others applications were cleared without even considering the land classification.
At the Kozhikode Corporation, the team found 14 permit applications, eight regularisation applications and 80 occupancy certificate applications in which action had not been taken even after six months. At the Kuzhathi zonal office in Kannur, several applications were found in which action had not been taken in six months, while completion certificate was issued in a case without site verification.
Vigilance director Sudesh Kumar said detailed investigations would be carried out in the coming days in connection with the discrepancies noticed in the Corporation offices and zonal offices.
