Thiruvananthapuram: The recent increase in building construction permit fees, followed by a subsequent rollback, was implemented by the state government in violation of the established norms for amending such regulations.

According to the rules, any revision in construction-related fees must be accompanied by a formal amendment to the relevant rules. However, the government bypassed this requirement by issuing an executive order, leading to allegations that it unlawfully collected exorbitant fees from applicants in panchayats and municipalities for over a year.

The fee hike, which applied to building construction applications and layout approvals, was introduced on April 10, 2023. After facing widespread criticism within the CPM and the ruling coalition following its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, the LDF government decided to offer a 60 per cent reduction in the fees.

By that time, however, over four lakh applicants had already paid the higher fees. The government has now instructed local self-government bodies to refund the excess amounts through bank transfers, giving them until March 31, 2025, to complete the process. As a result, building owners will have to wait for months to receive their refunds.

Many applicants who submitted their forms online via the Integrated Local Self-Governance Management System (ILGMS) software in panchayats and KSMART in municipalities are still awaiting their refunds. Meanwhile, the decision to repay the excess fees collected during the previous financial year has also created financial strain for local bodies, upsetting their budgets. Though it was the state government that announced the fee hike, the local bodies handled its implementation and reaped the financial benefits. It was earlier reported that the additional revenue collected during the previous financial year totalled Rs 177.79 crores and following the decision to reduce the fees, about half of this amount will need to be refunded.