The recent cancellation of the permit of a new building on Annie Hall Road near the Kozhikode railway station by the Superintending Engineer of the Kozhikode Corporation has put the spotlight on another scam involving building permits.
The permit of the building had been cancelled by the Corporation in 2018 after an accident at the construction site. The civic body had also found that the signature and seal of an approved engineer had been misused to get the permit.
It was in 2017 that Sunil Kumar. K, a licensed engineer from Kakkodi, became aware of the scam being carried out in his name. An official had allegedly forged Mr. Kumar’s signature and seal, besides using his licence number, to pass the plans of several buildings in the city. Gireesh K.V, an overseer, had been arrested in connection with the scam.
However, it took the Kozhikode Corporation a while, until mud caved in at the construction site, to cancel the permit. “The corporation had found me guilty for passing the plan, which I had no knowledge of. So I approached the police and the case is still sub judice,” Mr. Sunil Kumar said.
However, this did not stop the owner of the building to apply for a permit again in 2021 and get it approved by the corporation. Mr. Kumar had to bring the issue to the notice of the Corporation again to get it cancelled.
“I came to know that Mr. Gireesh had obtained permits for dozens of buildings in the city in a similar manner. If anything happens to those buildings, I will be in trouble,” Mr. Kumar said, adding that he is currently in the process of filing complaints at various police stations in the city identifying each of these buildings.
