PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday directed to forfeit Rs five lakh deposit of the Bhati village panchayat in Sanguem taluka for the failure to set up Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in the village.
The Bhati village panchayat failed to establish MRF facility despite giving several opportunities to the village panchayat by the High Court.
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The Court also issued notice for contempt of court to the Bhati sarpanch and the panchayat secretary.
In July last year while hearing a suo moto writ petition, the Court had asked the Bhati village panchayat to deposit Rs five lakh for not complying with the earlier directives regarding setting of the permanent MRF for garbage management as mandated by law and subsequent contempt notices.
Again at the next hearing, the counsel of Bhati village panchayat told the Court that the sarpanch had filed an affidavit stating that the panchayat had entered into an arrangement with the Uguem village panchayat and the MRF set up by Uguem panchayat will now be used as a temporary MRF by the Bhati panchayat. This arrangement was only for a period of six months.
The Bhati panchayat counsel Adv Padiyar further stated that the State government was in the process of allotting 2,000 square metres of land to Bhati panchayat to construct Panchayat Ghar. He said that the panchayat will provide for a permanent MRF in this land as a part of the Panchayat Ghar complex.
Accordingly, the Court had granted Bhati panchayat further six months time as a last chance to establish a permanent MRF facility and warned that the Court will not accept any excuses for not setting up the MRF. The amount deposited by the Bhati panchayat will stand forfeited if there was no permanent MRF within six months. The Court had also directed the sarpanch to file an affidavit by the next date indicating the progress about acquisition of land and other matters concerning setting up of the permanent MRF facility.
