Govt. urged to speed up investigation into building number scam

The Kozhikode Corporation Council has demanded the State government to speed up investigation into the building number scam in which the user IDs and passwords of Corporation employees were allegedly leaked to carry out fraud. The case is being investigated by the Vigilance department.

Discussing a report submitted by Corporation secretary K.U. Bini on the reinstatement of two employees who had been suspended as part of the investigation, the council meeting on Tuesday demanded the government to speed up the investigation and submit the chargesheet at the earliest.

According to the report, as many as 202 unauthorised buildings were identified to have obtained numbers through the scam in the preliminary investigation. The Corporation had cancelled all the numbers and served a tax demand notice on these unauthorised constructions. However, the building owners secured an injunction from the Kerala Administrative Tribunal against this, and hence no action could be taken against them. The issue will remain unresolved until the investigation is completed. The Secretary has hence suggested that the council approach the government in that regard.

Deputy Mayor C.P. Musafir Ahamed said the Corporation would do anything that was legally possible. Mayor Beena Philip said the Corporation had taken all necessary steps as soon as the fraud was unearthed. Meanwhile, Opposition leader K.C. Shobhita demanded that the Corporation move the court seeking action against the culprits before the term of the current council ended.

Later, the UDF councillors staged a walkout as they disagreed in part with a motion on the wages of ASHA workers. CPI(M) councillor Sujatha Koodathinkal had presented a motion demanding that the Union government accept ASHA workers as permanent employees and raise their remuneration. However, the UDF demanded an amendment to the motion demanding that the State government raise the honorarium of ASHA workers. However, the ruling front did not accept the amendment, against which the UDF staged a walkout.

Earlier, the council unanimously passed an adjournment motion by K. Moideen Koya of the IUML demanding immediate action against drug abuse among youngsters. Mayor Beena Philip said the council would further discuss and devise plans in this regard. She noted that more public involvement was necessary as awareness programmes were unlikely to get the desired results.