Special Correspondent
Panaji
Minister for Town and Country Planning (TCP) Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said the state government will approach the Supreme Court next week challenging the order of the High Court of Bombay at Goa as regards Section 17(2) of the Town and Country
Planning Act.
“Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi will represent the state in the case, and we have already briefed him,” he said. Addressing a press conference, Rane said the High Court has not struck down Section 17(2) of the TCP Act.
He said that instead, the court ordered modifications to one of the paragraphs within the section.
“The High Court has stayed its order for 6 weeks, to challenge its decision in the Supreme Court,” he said while announcing the government’s decision to move the apex court.
Stating that there were several errors in the Regional Plan and Section 17(2) was brought in to give people a chance to correct these errors, the Minister for Town and Country Planning said, “I respect the judiciary; implementing suggestions given by the judges regarding operationalisation and interpretation is not a problem.”
“After Supreme Court hears the matter, government will do the necessary tweaking as suggested by the court,” he said.
He also said that the Goa government, with the objective of protecting the areas, intends to notify 3550 survey numbers in the state as mangrove reserves within next 3 months.
Rane also announced that a special visit will be conducted at the department of town and country planning, in the coming days to identify individuals operating separate shops within the department. He warned that “action would be initiated against such offenders, and their shops will be closed”.
