Corporation seeks govt nod for area-based parking fee

Thiruvananthapuram: In a significant move aimed at enhancing revenue from common parking lots, the civic body has sought the consent of the state government to levy a fee based on the actual dimension of a parking lot. At present, parking lots can be operated by paying a fee of Rs 3,000 regardless of the area being converted for parking. The civic body has proposed to introduce a system by which fee will be determined on the actual area and this would ensure additional revenue for the civic body.A senior official with the city corporation said that the corporation was seeking a revision in rules or it wants the government to bring a new set of general guidelines. This would enable the civic body to fix the fee from parking lots based on actual area instead of the license fee of Rs 3,000.With no objections being received within the stipulated time period, the civic body has forwarded the by-law for parking to the state government for final notification. The proposal regarding collection of fees from parking lots based on the area has also been sent along with the request.As per the draft bylaw, parking fee can be collected in shopping complexes and malls only for areas which fall outside the parking space mandated by the building rules in the completion plan. The provision has been included specifically for shopping malls which have been collecting parking fees from customers regardless of the space where the vehicles are parked. The mall owners can however levy higher fee for additional parking space other than that is mandated by law, if a covered parking facility is provided.A bylaw earlier passed by the council on parking is yet to be notified by the state government. The government has also been dragging its feet on making amendments in the building rules regarding collection of parking fee in malls and commercial establishments.When M V Govindan was the LSG minister, he told the assembly that the government had decided to amend the rules to ensure the regulation of the state government in the collection of parking fees. Even a year after this reply was given in the assembly, the government has not initiated any steps to amend the rules. Once the bylaw gets notified, the civic body could serve notices on malls and file a statement of facts in courts regarding its policy on collection of parking fee.The government had earlier sought reports from local bodies on the issue of illegal collection of parking fee in shopping malls. The civic body submitted to the state government that it was not acceptable to let owners collect parking fee from customers on spaces which were mandatorily marked for parking as per the building rules. LSG ministers had repeatedly told the assembly that there was no provision in the building rules that allowed collection of parking fee from customers in commercial buildings.