Kerala High Court notice to Lulu Mall, Kerala govt on plea against collection of parking fees

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Kerala government and Lulu International Shopping Mall, Ernakulam on a petition that alleged that the mall was illegally collecting parking fees from its customers [Pauly Vadakkan v Lulu International Shopping Mall & Ors.].Justice N Nagaresh admitted the plea and issued notice to the State government, Lulu mall and the Kalamassery Municipality where the mall is situated..The plea was moved by film director Pauly Vadakkan after he was charged ₹20 as parking fees when he visited the mall earlier this month. .According to the petitioner, this was a blatant violation of the Kerala Municipality Act and Kerala Municipality Building Rules 1994. It was contended that as per the rules, the mall is a commercial complex and the place earmarked in the approved building plan for parking cannot be converted into a pay & park facility. If any conversion is made, that is a fraud on the statute and unsustainable in the eye of law, the petitioner submitted.In fact, it is the responsibility of the owner/ management to provide free parking space to those who visit a commercial complex like Lulu Mall, it was claimed. "However, from the very beginning itself the mall started the illegal collection of parking fee and the 3rd respondent (municipality) remained a mute spectator watching the illegal collection of parking fee," the plea said.Further, it was contended that since the collection of the parking fee is illegal as per the relevant statutes, it won’t fall within the ambit of Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. .On these grounds, among others, the plea sought a declaration that the collection of parking fees by the mall was illegal and and also prayed for directions to refund the ₹20 collected from the petitioner. Pertinently, the plea sought declarations that the mall has no right to collect parking fees without any license. In this regard, it was submitted that directions should be issued to the State government and the municipality to take appropriate steps to recover the total amount of parking fees collected by Lulu Mall since its inauguration in 2013. .The petitioner was represented by Advocate Jomy K Jose while Senior Advocate S Sreekumar appeared for Lulu International Shopping Mall.