B.REGHURAM SHETTY Vs. CHAIRMAN,APPELLATE COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is Chairman and Managing Director of a company seeks to quash Exts.P17 and P19 and to compel the first respondent to conduct Aeronautical Study as directed in Ext.P12 judgment.

(2.) The petitioner states that his company owns 36.70 Ares of land in Attipra Village, Thiruvananthapuram Taluk. The petitioner proposed to construct a Hotel Project having a plinth area of 10706.67 m ? and submitted an application for building permit in 2006. Since the site was located within the vicinity of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, height restrictions as provided in Table 3 of Rule 32 (2) of the Kerala Municipality Building Rules, 1999 (KMBR) was applicable. As per the said Table, the height restriction is 61 meters Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL). The site had an elevation of 7.307 meters and hence the petitioner can construct upto a height of 53.693 meters Above Ground Level (AGL). The height of the proposed building as per the plan was 39.5 meters AGL. Therefore NOC from the third respondent was not required. As per Ext.P2, the Corporation of Thiruvananthapuram issued building permit on 20.7.2006.

(3.) Before commencement of the construction, the company decided to increase the plinth area to 12871.16m ?, with a view to satisfy the stipulation of Department of Tourism, for five star classification. Even as per the revised proposal, the total height was 52.83 m which was less than the maximum permissible height of 61m AMSL. The revised plan was approved by the 1st respondent-Chairman, Appellate Committee, Airport Authority of India as per proceedings No.ZAE/ZA2/2/990/08 dated 27.1.2008. The piling work started in 2009. Validity of Ext. P2 permit expired on 19.7.2009. The Corporation of Trivandrum renewed Ext.P2 building permit on 27.01.2010 as per Ext. P3, which was valid up to 28.1.2013.