PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has reserved its order on the contempt petition into inaction of the authorities to the continued dumping of debris and garbage along the Panjim-Old Goa bypass road, for September 27. A detailed order on the steps government needs to take to address the issue will be pronounced on that day.

When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande submitted an 11-page note to the Court on measures taken by the government to deal with the issue. Petitioner Adv Aires Rodrigues, on the other hand, argued that directives to the panchayats and municipalities were only on paper and the ground reality was that the dumping of debris and garbage continues unabated. As directed by the Court, the Old Goa Police also submitted a report on the illegal land filling of comunidade fields along the Ribandar-Merces road.

Rodrigues in his contempt petition filed last year pointed out that in 2007 a PIL was filed over the rampant dumping of building debris along the bypass road wherein various orders by the High Court were passed in June 2008 based on a minutes of order signed and submitted to the Court. In a fresh petition he alleged that the government had not complied with the decade old order, forcing a contempt petition against it.