Kochi: With reports suggesting that a section of flat owners in Maradu's four apartment complexes facing demolition may encounter some difficulties in getting adequate compensation, the aggrieved residents are pinning their hopes on the committee constituted by the Supreme Court.
The SC had ordered the demolition of the flats at Maradu in Kerala's Ernakulam district for violating Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ) norms.
A major concern to be addressed by the committee headed by Justice (retired) Balakrishnan Nair is that several flat owners have not yet obtained the necessary ownership certificate. A media report said that nearly one-fourth of the owners have not changed ownership title of the flats in their names even after completing the payments. In such cases, builders would be marked as owners in revenue records. The builders would not be eligible for the interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh as their accounts have been frozen.
The flat owners hope that the SC-appointed panel would understand their plight and they can establish their ownership rights with adequate documents.
Apart from Justice Balakrishnan Nair, the panel will have an IAS officer and a technical expert as members. They have not yet been named.
“We can present our case before the committee and the technical expert will be able to sort out the issues. All the flat owners have title deeds which would be adequate to prove their ownership rights,” Shamsudheen Karunagappally, chairman, Maradu Bhavana Samrakshana Samiti, told Onmanorama.
Asked about reports that many flat owners have shown only Rs 1-2 lakh as registration fees, Shamsudheen said those amounts could be proportionate to the share value of the property before the buildings were built. He said the flat owners have paid all the required fees.
The flat owners have demanded that the compensation should be fixed according to the current market value of the property and the amount spent on maintaining the flats.
Fort Kochi sub-collector Snehil Kumar, who has been given the additional charge of Maradu municipality to handle the flat demolition, said the other members of the committee will be fixed as per the directions of Justice Balakrishnan Nair.
On the rehabilitation of the flat residents, the IAS officer said revenue officials have been asked to find more flats as per the requests made by the needy flat owners.
“Some flat owners have already found new homes on their own. We have received requests from a few and are awaiting more,” Snehil said.
Earlier, there were complaints that many of the flats identified by the officials for rehabilitation were occupied or the owners were reluctant to give them out for rent.
The SC had last week ordered the demolition to be carried out within 138 days and asked the state government to pay an interim compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each flat owners.