Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa issued notices to the Pomburpa-Olaulim village panchayat and M/s Turiya II after the decision of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department to change private land to settlement area was challenged in the court. The change was made two months after notifying the same as a private forest.
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“Prima facie we find substance in the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioner,” the division bench comprising Justice M S Karnik and Justice Nivedita P Mehta said and asked respondents to file affidavit-in-reply, within three weeks.
Adv Rohit Bras De Sa, representing petitioner architect Dean D’Cruz brought to the notice of the court that though the land was notified as a private forest in the Official Gazette, the TCP Department after two months opined that the same is not a part of the private forest and changed the zoning towards settlement area.
The Pomburpa-Olaulim panchayat had sought clarification from the Chief Conservators of Forests about the private forest but it was not given.
The petitioner has prayed to stay the construction licence granted to M/s Turiya II by the Pomburpa-Olaulim panchayat, the building licence granted by the TCP Department, the conversion sanad granted by the Bardez Deputy Collector, Mapusa, Bardez, the zoning certificate granted by the TCP Department and the No-Objection Certificate issued by the Deputy Conservator of Forest, North Goa Division.
