Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday directed Merces Panchayat not to issue any further construction licences till the garbage menace is remedied.
The directions by a division bench, comprising Justices Nitin Jamdar and Nutan Sardessai, came after hearing a contempt petition filed by Advocate Aires Rodrigues pointing to inaction of the authorities on the continued dumping of debris and garbage along the Panjim-Old Goa bypass. The matter has been adjourned by two weeks for further hearing.
In his contempt petition, Rodrigues stated that in 2007, a Public Interest Litigation was filed over the rampant dumping of building debris along the bypass and that taking note of the gross violations of law, various orders were passed by the High Court which was disposed on June 26, 2008 based on a Minutes of Order signed and submitted to the Court.
In the Minutes of Order, the government had undertaken to continue and take to its logical conclusion investigations into the dumping of construction debris on the Panjim-Old Goa bypass.
However, Rodrigues alleged that debris and garbage continued to be dumped along the same stretch of the bypass with the situation getting worse. He had also submitted photographs showing waste dumped along the stretch.
