Team Herald
PORVORIM: The government has decided to take steps to recover possession of the Goa Cricket Association ground at Porvorim and to initiate criminal proceedings against the persons concerned for illegally allotting the ground without prior approval of the government.
On February 18, the High Court of Bombay at Goa, through the State Chief Secretary, directed the government to file the compliance/status report within two months in the case of (Writ Petition No 19 of 2017) pertaining to the illegal construction of the Goa Cricket Association ground at Porvorim. The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by a Porvorim-based RTI activist Harihar Chodankar.
Neetal Amonkar, Under Secretary (Home) filed an affidavit on behalf of the government before the High Court stating, “The government has decided to take steps to recover possession of the property and hand over the same to the Education Department. The government has also decided to initiate criminal proceedings against the persons concerned for illegal allotting of the ground without prior approval of the government.”
The Department of Home has also asked the Director General of Police and District Magistrate (North) to initiate criminal proceedings against the concerned for illegally allotting the ground without prior approval of the government.
The Division Bench of Justice of M S Sonak and Justice Prithviraj K Chavan has now directed filing of compliance/status report on April 22.
RTI activist Chodankar had discovered that the construction of the playground at Porvorim was itself illegal.
Following the PIL, the government constituted a Special Investigating Team for investigating the scam.
