NT Reporter
Panaji
Former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and convenor of the ‘Enough is Enough’ movement, Justice Ferdino Rebello (Retd.), has called for an immediate stay on all land conversions across the state under Section 39-A until the proposed draft legislation ‘The Goa Protection of Agricultural Lands Bill, 2026’ is passed.
The ‘Enough is Enough’ movement had earlier submitted a 10-point charter and the draft legislation to political leaders.
In a letter to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant dated April 7, Rebello said the government should exercise the powers used to stall zoning changes in Arambol, Siridao and Sankhali to implement a moratorium on permissions under Section 39-A of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act.
“Failing to apply a uniform standard to all pending applications, while granting stays in selected cases, amounts to an arbitrary exercise of power by the government,” Rebello said.
Stating that the Legislative Assembly was recently prorogued, citing by-elections, he said this avoided a floor discussion on the proposed Bill aimed at protecting hills, forests and heritage.
“The Goa Restriction on Transfer of Agricultural Lands Act, 2023, allows zoning of paddy fields for development. This could affect the state’s natural topography. Under the Goa Land Use (Regulation) Act, 1991 and the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act, agricultural land vested in tenants cannot be diverted for non-agricultural purposes. These provisions are being ignored,” said Rebello.
He said the TCP Board is not verifying original land titles under the Code of Comunidades before processing applications. He said contour plans from the GSI are not being followed and alleged that unauthorised guidelines are being used.
