Forty families have filed a fresh petition in the Supreme Court challenging its verdict to demolish four apartment complexes in Maradu area of Kochi in Kerala for violation of the coastal regulation zone rules, PTI reported on Sunday. The residents argued that they had not been given a chance to be heard before the top court passed the order on May 8.

The court had ordered that the four apartment buildings – Jains Coral Cove, Alfa Serene, H20 Holy Faith and Golden Kayaloram – be demolished.

The Golden Kayaloram Residents Association in the petition claimed a “fraud” was played on the court and that it was misled by the committee of local officials that investigated whether the high-rise buildings violated the coastal regulation zone rules.

They alleged that the demolition of Golden Kayaloram was different from the other three apartments as this particular apartment building did not violate rules. “Golden Kayaloram Apartment was never show-caused by the Kerala government for coastal regulation zone violations, but for building bye-law violations and hence its case was different from the three other complexes,” the petition said.

The residents added that they did not get an opportunity to point out the errors in the findings of the inquiry committee and requested an open court hearing in the case.

“The facts in this petition establish an illegality and a serious instance of fraud in the report filed by the inquiry committee before the court,” the petition said. “This has resulted in the abuse of the process of the court and gross miscarriage of justice.”

On October 25, the Supreme Court had asked the Kerala government to give Rs 25 lakh interim compensation to Maradu flat owners. The Kerala government had informed that it has so far disbursed Rs 10 crore compensation.

In September, it had said that the demolition process should be completed in 138 days. The Kerala government has set a deadline of January 9, 2020, for the demolition of the flats. The removal of the debris and normalisation of the site will take place between January 10, 2020, and February 9, 2020.

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