Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday took serious note of undervaluing the Assessment Order for calculating fees for correction of zone under Section 17 (2) of Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act thereby causing a loss of Rs 7.16 crore to the public exchequer even as the Advocate General told the Court that steps have been taken to recover the money as per the revised rates notified on March
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28, 2024.
Activists Swapnesh Sherlekar, Jose Carlos Da Veiga Gracias and Rupesh Shinkre had filed a writ petition seeking to immediately hold an inquiry against the Chief Town Planner Rajesh Naik for having caused loss to the public exchequer by deliberately undervaluing the Assessment Order in violation of/contrary to the government notification published in the Gazette on 28/03/2024 and thereby deliberately causing a loss of Rs 7.16 crore to the public exchequer.
On March 16, 2023, the government had notified fees for processing applications for correction/rectification of zone of land/properties in Regional Plan for Goa. A fee of Rs 200 was prescribed for correction/rectification of zone under Section 17 (2) of the TCP Act, for land having area above 20,001 square
metres.
A year later the government revised/increased fees and another Notification dated 28/03/2024 superseding earlier Notification dated 16/03/2023 and notified new fees at increase rates. It fixed Rs 1,000 for correction/rectification of zone of land to settlement zone for land having area above 20,001 sq mts.
Three months later on June 11, 2024, CTP Rajesh Naik and Vinod Kumar Chandra (who holds post of Town Planner and Junior to Naik) forwarded a proposal for zone rectification from the Brahm Agro Terra Projects Ltd, Bengaluru, for approval of the government, recommending correcting/rectifying 89,500 sq mts area from property/land bearing Survey No. 17/1 admeasuring 2,64,197 sq mts of Chopdem Village in Pernem Taluka. The government approved 89,500 sq mts for rectification/correction to settlement zone in Regional Plan 2021 under Section 17 (2) of the TCP Act.
Arguing on behalf of the petitioners, Adv Rohit Bras de Sa pointed out that it was the duty and responsibility of the CTP Naik, to assess total fee payable as Rs 8.95 crore, however Naik in the Assessment Order passed by him on June 11, 2024 dishonestly and fraudulently accessed/calculated the fee at the rate of Rs 200 per square metre instead of Rs 1,000 per square metre and caused damage/huge monetary loss to government treasury by fabricating incorrect/false document. Due to this, it caused a loss of Rs 7.16 crore to the public exchequer.
The Petitioner stated that the records reveal that there are as many as 120 cases which have been Gazetted and published under Section 17 (2) of TCP Act since April 2024. In several of these cases similar fraud had been played by the CTP and prayed that Naik be suspended pending disciplinary inquiry.
