PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has issued a notice to the South Western Railway on a writ petition filed by Velsao Panchayat, challenging developmental work on the second track of the railway that passes through the villages of Velsao, Pale and Issorcim without approval or license from the Panchayat under the Panchayat Act, 1994.

The new writ petition has been filed by the village panchayat alleging several illegal constructions and activities being carried out by the Railways authorities within the jurisdiction of the Panchayat. The activities in question are being undertaken as a part of the project of doubling of the railway line between Hubli and Vasco. The petitioner said that the railways have neither obtained any permission nor have applied for any.

The panchayat further stated that being the constitutionally established and elected local governmental body for the villages of Velsao, Pale, and Issorcim, it is an important authority as far as development and construction activities within these villages are concerned.

“As per the statutory scheme of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, as well as the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations, 2010, no development and/or construction activities can be undertaken within the jurisdiction of a Village Panchayat without written permissions being issued under the specific provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act as well as the Building Regulations. In spite of these provisions, the Respondent Authorities have on multiple occasions carried out development and/ or construction activities in relation to the railway track doubling project without the necessary permissions from the Petitioner authority,” reads the petition.

Moreover, the Petitioner alleged that it has been completely sidelined in the entire process of planning the railway track doubling within the jurisdiction of the Petitioner, contrary to official guidelines of the Ministry of Railways and the provisions of the Indian Railways Code relating to the planning of all railway projects.

“As the Respondent Authorities have continued carrying out work without permissions from the petitioner, in the face of multiple objections sent to it by the Petitioner, the Petitioner authority has been constrained to approach the Hon’ble Court for intervention and relief. The Panchayat, in fact, has already issued a demolition order directing the railways to remove structures recently erected,” it said.

With three respondents in the matter, one of them has sought time for reply which was granted by the court and adjourned for hearing on March 23.