Audit finds Munnar hotels flouted rules

Kochi: A special audit by the state finance department has found a series of violations of Kerala Building Rules (KBR) applicable in Munanr, Pallivasal and Chinnakkalnal panchayts of Idukki district. The panchayts lost revenue of Rs 19.05 crore as they failed to regularise the violations as per the rules in the case of 21 buildings the audit team inspected, the report said.

The audit for financial year 2013-14, conducted in 2015, found violation of provisions related to categorisation of residential and commercial buildings, fixation of tax, regularisation of illegal constructions, issuance of completion certificate, fire safety norms and maintenance of documents.

The audit said several resorts and hotels got permissions by fudging facts. It listed examples which included that of a resort which got permit from the panchayat in the A1 category of residential buildings for a building with an area of 2,329 sq metre. KBR mandated that buildings above 3,000 sq metre need to get permit from the district town planner and that such buildings belonged to A2 special residence category. But inspection revealed that the building had a built up area of 4,554 sq metre, it said.

The report said there were instances of buildings being built under special residential permits but got completion certificate in residential category, resulting in huge losses of revenue. It has given a list of hotels and resorts which submitted lower floor areas though inspection found them to have higher areas. Several resorts violated rules regarding fire safety and roads access.

"Such rules cannot be condoned under any circumstances but such instances are many in the Munnar area," the report said. The floor area ratio applicable under KBR has also been violated in many buildings, it said. Some buildings did not even have space for parking as specified in KBR. Most illegal construction failed to produce the records as mandated in the rules, the audit found.