Vigilance court convicts former Thiruvananthapuram Corporation officials and building owner

The Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court on Thursday convicted three former employees of the city Corporation as well as a building owner in a case related to the sanctioning the construction of a building in violation of the Kerala Municipality Building Regulations. The sentenced officials have been identified as former Assistant Planning Officer of the Town Planning wing J.Jayashankar, 63, former Building Inspector V. Sasidharan Nair, 63 and former upper division clerk R.Sankaran, 67, while the building owner has been identified as G. Mohandas, 79, a native of Kowdiar.The three former officials have been sentenced to a total of four years of rigorous imprisonment under various sections and have been fined ₹1,00,000 each. The building owner has to undergo four years of rigorous imprisonment under various sections and a fine of ₹2,00,000 has been imposed on him. Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance) Manoj delivered the verdict.Mr. Mohandas had obtained a permit by influencing officials to carry out renovation work on the building in Vanchiyoor village under the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limits, and under the guise of the said permit, the existing building was completely demolished and a new four-storey building was illegally constructed on this site. Based on the Vigilance investigation, it was found that the building owner had made financial gains without paying the tax due to the Corporation as per the law and that the Corporation had suffered a loss in the tax revenue due to action on the part of the officials. Published - September 17, 2026 08:22 pm IST