Idukki District Collector Sheeba George has rejected the No Objection Certificate (NOC) application for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) area committee office building at Santhanpara in Idukki.
The High Court had directed the party to approach the District Collector to get an NOC for the construction of the building. According to sources, the collector rejected the application, stating that it is a commercial construction with a four-storey building. “The total built-up area also includes 12 square metres of non-title deed land. The party office also holds 48 square meters of government land (Porampoke),” said the reply.
However, CPI(M) Santhanpara area committee member V.V. Shaji said that the party had approached the District Collector for NOC as per the direction from the High Court. “We will demolish the 48 square metre road poramboke construction on Friday and again approach the High Court,” said Mr. Shaji.
“The Revenue department already imposed restrictions on construction activities in 13 panchayats in the Munnar region under the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) Act. But the reality is that the building is a union office of high-range plantation workers. It is not a commercial construction,” said Mr. Shaji.
The construction works of the Santhanpara area committee office came to focus after Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC) general secretary Bijo Mani secured the documents through RTI stating that the construction works of the building were without NOC.
On August 22, the High Court directed the Idukki Collector to stop the construction of the CPI(M) office building at Santhanpara. However, the CPI(M) violated the High Court order and continued the construction works. On August 24, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court initiated a suo motu contempt of court case against CPI(M) Idukki district secretary C.V. Varghese for constructing the party office despite a High Court directive to stop the construction. The court also restrained the party from using the building without further orders from the court. Later, the party approached the High Court to continue the construction works of the building, and the court asked to approach the district collector.
