The Kerala City Hall (Amendment) Regulations 2013, which relaxes the proportion of the floor area (FAR) and the height of the buildings, has been challenged in the Supreme Court of Kerala.
In his writing request, former mayor of Kochi Corporation C.M. Dinesh Mani said the amendments have been introduced to protect the interests of builders while undermining public safety.
According to him, if the modified rules were applied, it would result in "anarchy in the field of building construction".
According to the amended provisions, a building with FAR up to 3 could be built without payment of additional fees, while the previous FAR limit was up to 1.5. As a result, 90 percent of the builders were exempted from paying the additional fee, which led to a loss of millions of rupees to the public treasury.
The amendments constituted a threat to the security measures contemplated by the National Construction Code and KMBR of 1999. It also regularized all unauthorized constructions and developments of land made before 31 March 2013 by paying a fee of composition.
The petitioner said that there had been no attempt by the government to solicit views from the Land Management Organization, the Disaster Management Authority, the Department of the Environment, the Fire Director and the public. The petitioner requested a directive to introduce amendments to the 1999 KMBR only after obtaining suggestions and opinions from the Disaster Management Authority, the Department of the Environment, the Urban Planning Organization and the public, including resident associations.
The court has adjourned the hearing on the petition next week for the government to respond.