Kerala High Court dismisses appeal challenging levy of parking fees by Lulu Mall

The Kerala High Court on Saturday dismissed an appeal challenging the collection of parking fees by Lulu International Shopping Mall in Kochi. [Bosco Louis v State of Kerala & ors]

A Division Bench comprising Justices SA Dharmadhikari and Syam Kumar VM upheld the decision of a single-judge, who had earlier ruled that it is within the mall owner's prerogative to levy parking fees from visitors provided the mall owner holds a municipal licence for such activity.

The Court functioned on a Saturday as a compensatory working day for the loss of an unscheduled holiday declared on October 3.

A single-judge of the High Court had distinguished between two parking areas of Lulu Mall, the basement parking where collection of fees was held to be legal, and the adjacent multi-level parking facility where collection was deemed illegal since the owner had not obtained a licence under Section 475 of the Kerala Municipality Act.

The petitions were filed by film director Pauly Vadakkan and one Bosco Louis, after Vadakkan was charged ₹20 as parking fees when visiting the mall.

They had contended that the levy violated the Kerala Municipality Act and Building Rules, arguing that commercial complexes are obliged to provide free parking to visitors.

However, Lulu mall had countered by stating that mall owners spent heavily on constructing and maintaining parking areas with adequate safety and security systems and added that there was no statutory prohibition on charging reasonable fees for the same.

The dismissal of the appeal by the Court effectively means that Lulu Mall may continue to collect parking fees, provided the activity is duly licensed under municipal law.

Government Pleader KR Deepa appeared for the state.

Standing Counsel MK Aboobaker represented the Kalamassery Municipality.

Senior counsel S Sreekumar assisted by advocates P Martin Jose, Prajith P, Githesh R, Manjunath Menon, Sachin Jacob Ambat, Harikrishnan S, Ajay Ben Jose, Anna Linda Eden, Hani P Nair, and Thomas P Kuruvilla appeared for LuLu International Shopping Mall.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.