Thiruvananthapuram: The Corporate Team investigates the fraud of funds at the Kazhakkoottam Zonal Office, seeing embezzlement under three heads: invalid regularization of construction, tar cutting and building permits.
These three aspects often generate good income for City Corporation for years.
The cashier, placed under the suspension, has canceled a receipt after receiving cash if the issuance of tar cutting permits.
The Probe Team collected the statement of acceptance which was canceled for 2019-20 and found that even though reception was canceled, permits were still published and money because the corporation as a restoration cost was never credited.
In the complaint submitted to the Kazhakootam police, the corporate secretary demanded that the allegations be slapped against officials below, criminal conspiracy, violations of trust and fraud.
With registers who have detailed acceptance, site plans, and applicants, this team also collects applicant details to whom pass permissions released and receiving canceled.
This is done to find out if there is a Nexus between officials and agents.
In terms of cutting tar, there is no same fraud so far detected for 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Officials now examine the 2018-19 statement.
In addition to tar cutting files, documents and statements related to regularization costs collected for illegal construction and building permit costs are also being collected.
The general factor that allows officials to deceive funds is that it is very rare for the Petitioner to find a receipt about tar cutting.
As for permission and regularization, the application is usually submitted and handled by an agent and once they get permission or get a fixed building, they don’t return to receive a receipt for the same thing.
City Corporation produces more income from road restoration than the cumulative number of collected as rent and income from assets in 2019-20, according to annual administrative reports for 2019-20.
The corporation took RS 15.26 Crore from road restoration costs in 2019-20, almost 280% higher than anticipated in budget estimates for fiscal.
Costs collected by City Corporation to regulate unauthorized construction record 161% increase in three fiscal, according to the numbers presented in budget documents 2021-22.
The Civic body that hit Rs 68 Lakh in 2017-18 as a regularization fee was taken by Rs 1.7 Crore in 2019-20, indicating the actual collection record.
The humongous increase in the collection of regularization costs has spurred the corporation to project the estimate of RS 3.5 Crore as a regularization fee on the next fiscal.
The assembly record shows that until February 2019, the total cost collected from unauthorized regularization of construction in city district bodies is Rs 2.82 Crore.