The High Court of Bombay at Goa has cracked the whip on what it sees as entrenched administrative apathy, ordering imme diate disciplinary action against more than 120 Panchayat Secretaries who failed to comply with its di rectives on illegal roadside structures for over a year. Hearing a suo motu public interest litigation, the bench of Justice Val miki Menezes and Justice Amit S Jamsandekar took a stern view of the prolonged non-compliance, warning that defiance of court or ders at this scale amounts to a serious breach border ing on contempt. The court’s intervention traces back to 2024, when it first took cognisance of the unchecked prolifera tion of illegal roadside con structions across Goa. In a detailed order dated March 6, 2025, it laid down a struc tured enforcement frame work, identifying eight cat egories of encroachments — including those along roads and highways — and directing municipal coun cils and village panchayats to classify violations, pre pare phased action plans, and submit compliance re ports backed by affidavits. Yet, more than a year on, the process has stalled. Submissions before the court revealed that over 120 village panchayats had failed to file the mandated reports, effectively paralys ing enforcement and rais ing serious questions about accountability within the grassroots administrative machinery. The lapse, the bench noted, persists de spite the appointment of nodal officers by both the Directorate of Panchayats and the Directorate of Mu nicipal Administration to streamline compliance.
Calling the delay ‘unacceptable’ and a ‘serious lapse’, the court made it clear that continued inaction would not be tolerated. It directed the Directorate of Panchayats to ini tiate strict disciplinary proceedings against all defaulting Panchayat Secretaries who failed to meet the February 25, 2026 deadline. In a time-bound directive, the court ordered that proceed ings be completed within four weeks, in accordance with applicable service rules. A detailed action-taken report is to be placed before the bench on May 4, when the matter will be reviewed again. The court also reiterated its earlier mandate requiring local bodies to categorise and act against illegal structures across municipal and panchayat jurisdictions, including those on government and Comunidade lands, as well as commercial encroachments
