IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE C.N.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.S.GOPINATHAN WEDNESDAY, THE 17TH MARCH 2010 / 26TH PHALGUNA 1931 WA.No. 495 of 2010() -------------------- AGAINST THE JUDGEMENT IN WPC.21054/2009 Dated 11/02/2010 .................... APPELLANTS/PETITIONERS: ------------------------- 1. P.VISWANATHA MENON, MUNICIPAL COUNCILLOR "PANKAJ", KADAVATH, KATAVATH ROAD, N.PARUR. 2. P.GOPALAKRISHNAN NAIR, S/O.PADMANABHA PILLAI, ANANDA BHAVAN, PARAVUR THARA MURI, MANNOM P.O., WARD NO.IX, PARAVUR VILLAGE, N.PARUR. BY ADV. SRI.C.CHANDRASEKHARAN RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENTS: -------------------------- 1. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT, SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 2. THE CHAIRMAN, MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, PARAVUR MUNICIPALITY, N.PARUR. 3. THE SECRETARY, PARAVUR MUNICIPALITY, N.PARUR. 4. THE NORTH PARAVUR MUNICIPALITY, REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, N.PARUR. R1 BY SR. G.P. SRI.BENJAMIN PAUL R2 TO R4 BY ADV. SRI.T.A.SHAJI THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 17/03/2010, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: C .N. RAMACHANDRAN NAIR & P.S. GOPINATHAN, JJ. -------------------------------------------- W. A. No. 495 OF 2010 -------------------------------------------- Dated this the 17th day of March, 2010 JUDGMENT Ramachandran Nair, J. Writ Appeal is filed against the judgment of the learned single Judge upholding the decision of the North Paravur Municipality to get a building constructed by a contractor under BOT scheme. Appellant's case is that Municipality has no authority under the Municipalities Act to transfer it's property to a private builder under any arrangement whatsoever. However, standing counsel for the Municipality submitted that Municipality does not have funds even to build a decent office for itself and therefore it had to seek the assistance of private builders on terms fixed by itself. We are told that the land given is 57 cents and the building proposed to be constructed is a multi-storied building with seven floors. Under the arrangement Municipality will be given 10,000 sq.ft of constructed area soon after completion of construction to house it's office, library, etc. Besides this the builder will give an annuity of Rs. 1.25 lakhs every year upto 34 years and thereafter the portion of the building retained by the builder will be reverted back to the 2 Municipality without any payment whatsoever. The appellant has no case that the deal struck by the Municipality is prejudicial to it's interest or that the Municipality has not followed any fair procedure in selecting the builder. Standing counsel submitted that competitive quotation was invited and between two valid offers one was selected, that too after negotiation. 2. After hearing both sides, we do not find any ground to interfere in the matter because in our view, the Municipality has taken the right decision to involve private participation in acquiring assets for durable benefit of the Municipality. In fact in cases reaching before us, we notice that slender resources of the local authorities are diverted for construction and other purposes leading to such authorities failure in their essential duties, like sanitation, road facilities, drinking water facilities, etc. We feel other local authorities should follow the pioneering step taken by the North Paravur Municipality. It is a policy decision which has the endorsement from Government as well. We do 3 not find any ground to interfere with the judgment of the learned single Judge. Writ Appeal is dismissed. (C.N.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR) Judge. (P.S. GOPINATHAN) kk Judge.