'Corp cannot collect parking fee on roads'

Disallowing the Corporation from extending and renewing the contract for collecting parking fee, Ombudsman Justice M R Hariharan Nair directed the Local Self- Government Principal Secretary to issue orders relating to collecting of parking fee across the state.

The PWD opposed the claim raised by the Corporation which had asserted that it had the power to collect parking fee as it was collecting garbage and maintaining street lamps. The Ombudsman said the Corporation had no right to charge the fee as the road did not belong to it and there was no lease agreement between the two.

The Human Rights Defence Forum, through a petition, had challenged the Corporation charging parking fee on M G Road, Broadway, Shanmugham Road, Vytilla Junction road, and the area between Vytila-Thammanam Road and NH-47.