Citizens are often compelled to pay a fortune in backhanders to corrupt Municipal Corporation officials to get an occupancy certificate and door number (TC) for their houses in the capital, according to Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) investigators.
The agency had on Thursday conducted a surprise inspection at the Corporation office here following a spate of complaints from the public.
Many said that it took them huge bribes, compounded by humiliating wait and supplication before local officials, to get the certificate and Thiruvananthapuram Corporation door number (TC). Both documents are mandatory for getting power and water connection at subsided domestic rates and also for paying building and land taxes. Investigators said a coterie of corrupt officials and their agents had distorted the system to their monetary advantage.
The woes of citizens begin when they approach the Corporation directly after constructing their houses. Several persons told the agency that officials met them with the stock reply that their original application for the building permit was missing.
The public’s only option is to move for the certificate through agents, who, investigators said, appeared to have a free run in the office, including its record section.
Most complainants said they paid a considerable sum, worked out by agents on the floor area of their house, as bribe to get the occupancy certificate and TC number.
No note, just delay
The agency found scores of applications for occupancy certificates pending at the office without any note or explanation on why the officials had not disposed of them in time.
In several cases, officials cited minor building plan violations as an excuse to deny TC number. Investigators said issuing a permit to construct commercial structures, chiefly high-rise apartments, was a major area of corruption. They found that Corporation officials had issued building licences to several flats, all above 12 floors, without the mandatory clearance of the regional town planner. At least three of the buildings cleared for construction is in the city’s designated green zone.
Dy.SP R. Mahesh led the surprise check ordered by VACB chief Loknath Behera.