S. REMA Vs. KOCHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) It is sometimes an irony that in a densely populated State like ours, where land and space is always in a premium, the scourge of vacant and abandoned properties posing threat to peaceful living in its neighbourhood, is also a reality.

(2.) Properties may be left vacant for a variety of reasons-most of them benign-but when its owner abandons his basic responsibilities of ownership, it becomes a problem for the local community and its residents.

(3.) The Kerala Municipality Act, 1994, (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for brevity) expressly recognises this societal predicament and fixes responsibility on the Municipality/Corporation concerned to effectively deal with it through the prescriptions in Sections 426, 427 and 430, which need a reading in its full to appreciate the peculiar issues presented in this case; for which purpose, I deem it requisite to extract them below: