Mayor Beena Philip has vehemently criticised the UDF councillors of the Kozhikode Corporation for allegedly unleashing a baseless campaign against her and Corporation Secretary K.U. Bini in connection with the building number scam case.
The Kerala Administrative Tribunal had, on June 13, ordered the Corporation to revoke the suspension of two officials who had been accused in the case, citing procedural lapses in their suspension. The Tribunal had also directed the Corporation to pay section clerk N.P. Suresh and clerk M. Anil Kumar all benefits including salary due during the suspension period starting from June 27, 2022.
The complainants had alleged that as per the Kerala Municipality Act, the decision for suspension should have been taken by the Mayor, and implemented by the Secretary. However, in this case, the Secretary took the decision, and the Mayor sanctioned it.
The UDF council party claimed that the Tribunal had summoned the Mayor, Secretary, and the Additional Secretary on August 28 for contempt of court due to the Corporationโs failure to follow its order. The UDF council party leader K.C. Shobhita said that the tribunal had acted after the suspended officials pointed out the delay and dismissed the Corporationโs appeal, stating that it could only be filed after following the order.
However, the Mayor denied the claim, stating she had not been summoned. โThe tribunal has served a notice to the Mayor, Secretary, and the Additional Secretary to file an affidavit on August 27 regarding the contempt of court filed by the suspended officials. The UDF has twisted it to launch a false campaign,โ she said in a press release. She also added that an appeal against the tribunalโs order had been filed in the Kerala High Court.
The scam involved the misuse of login details of employees in the Sanchaya building tax assessment software used in the revenue section of the Corporation. The scam came out on June 18, 2022 following which two Corporation officials and five mediators were arrested. Five other officials, who were suspended as soon as the scam came out, but not arrested, were later reinstated to duty.
The internal investigation by the civic body revealed that 195 buildings were assigned numbers through this method. The case is at present investigated by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.
