Panaji: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has issued notices to the state government and the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department in petitions challenging the Goa government’s decision to withdraw permissions granted under Section 39A of the Town and Country Planning Act in the St Andre constituency.
The High Court has granted six weeks’ time to the respondents to file replies. The petitions are scheduled to be heard on June 17.
Three petitions have been filed challenging the withdrawal of permissions granted under Section 39A of the TCP Act in the St Andre constituency. The petitioners contended that they had received no-objection certificates for change of zone of their land. However, they alleged that these permissions were later withdrawn due to pressure from public protests, without being given any prior notice or an opportunity to be heard.
Villagers and St Andre RGP MLA Viresh Borkar had staged protests opposing Section 39A, which allowed “plot-by-plot” conversion of agricultural land, hill slopes and private forests into settlement zones, which they said threatened eco-sensitive areas. A night-long protest was held at the TCP office in Panaji.
The protesters later shifted to Azad Maidan and marched towards the TCP Minister’s residence, leading to police barricading and clashes. The government subsequently issued an order to suspend all provisional and final land conversions under Section 39A in St Andre.
The TCP Department, in the last week of February this year, had ordered that all provisional and final land conversions under Section 39A in the St Andre constituency be suspended with immediate effect. The state government had issued this order following a hunger strike by St Andre MLA VireshBorkar and widespread protests opposing land conversions under the provision.
