NT Reporter
Panaji
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has partly set aside an order of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) relating to a proposed resort in Cavelossim after finding that construction permission had been wrongly granted on a sand dune stretch.
The Tribunal held that 322 sqm of the project area, as marked in official maps, fell within a sand dune system where construction is prohibited under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011.
In its order, the western bench of the NGT stated: “The impugned GCZMA order dated March 3, 2022, needs to be set aside only to the extent that discharge proceedings pertaining to revocation of permission dated October 20, 2015, will stand modified. On the area of 322 sqm, shown in the map, the permission for construction could not have been granted, the same being sand dune area. Therefore, the discharge of the proceedings in respect of the said area is found to be erroneous.”
The dispute related to the construction permission granted on October 20, 2015, to Nova Resorts Pvt Ltd. Residents and activists had approached the Tribunal alleging that part of the project site overlapped with sand dunes protected under the CRZ norms. They said that despite repeated representations, the GCZMA allowed construction by passing a discharge order in March 2022.
The appellants submitted that the authority had overlooked official maps and scientific data which clearly demarcated the area as a sand dune. They said any approval for construction was “illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the CRZ Notification, 2011”. They also pointed out that sand dunes act as natural coastal barriers and their removal would cause ecological damage.
Nova Resorts Pvt Ltd and other respondents countered that the project had been duly vetted by the competent authorities and the permission was valid.
They said the site had been surveyed and inspected, and no significant dune system was observed at the time of approval. The GCZMA maintained that its discharge order was based on records and inspections which did not indicate violations that required revocation of the 2015 permission.
After hearing both sides, the Tribunal ruled that most of the project area did not attract CRZ violations. However, it held that the identified 322 sqm was part of a sand dune and permission could not have been granted there. The bench clarified that no approval can subsist in relation to sand dunes under the CRZ notification.
