Advocate Commissioner to inspect shops at Panampilly Nagar again

Source: thehindu.com

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday appointed an Advocate Commissioner to inspect the commercial establishments operating without licence in Panampilly Nagar residential areas.

The order was passed on a contempt petition filed by Sobha Ramachandran, a resident of Panampilly Nagar, against the Kochi Corporation for not complying with a court directive to close down commercial establishments running without valid licence in the residential areas.

The court asked the Advocate Commissioner to inspect the buildings which had been allowed to be converted from residential to commercial by the Corporation.

The court made it clear that dangerous and offensive (D & O) trade licence could be given only if the purpose changed (residential to commercial) was lawfully granted for which the report of the Advocate Commissioner was essential.

The Kochi corporation submitted that of the 101 applications received, 76 applications for purpose change had been allowed. Of the 129 applications, only 11 shops had been granted licences.

The petitioner pointed out that the purpose change had been indiscriminately granted without reference to the measurements prescribed in the statute. The shops which had not obtained the licence still continued to be in operation in the area.

The court directed the Advocate Commissioner to file a report on or before October 29.

Eviction of vendors

The High Court ordered that status quo be maintained with respect to the eviction of vendors from the streets of Panampilly Nagar.

The court passed the interim order on a writ petition filed by A. Ravi and 11 other street vendors of Panampilly Nagar. According to them, they had been operating in Panampilly Nagar for many years.

They said that the Corporation was yet to implement the scheme provided under Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulations of Street Vending) Act, 2014.

The Kochi Corporation in an affidavit said that the list of street vendors had been prepared and approved.

As for the vending zones, opinion of the public and drain facilities had to be taken into consideration.

The Corporation council was taking steps to declare the vending zones.

As of now, nearly 2,000 bona fide street vendors had been identified by the street vending committee in its survey and steps were on for accommodating them in suitable places. But, on account of the non-availability of free land or purmboke, it would take time to finalise the scheme, it said.