Team Herald
PANJIM/MARGAO: The High Court on Thursday directed the South Goa Planning & Development Authority (SGPDA) not to pass the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) of Margao and Ponda till the case is fully heard. The ruling came in the wake of a PIL filed by Ashish Kamat of United Goans Front (UGF).
SGPDA had scheduled its meeting on Friday even as it is facing an inquiry by Goa Lokayukta besides the UGF petition.
The bench while observing that there was absolutely no emergency in holding the ODP meeting has directed the administration to file a reply by December 28. The NGO, supported by the respective municipalities, challenged the manner in which ODPs were approved in haste without proper consultation from the stakeholders.
In his PIL, Kamat had contended that the Comprehensive Development Plan, which was supposed to be prepared in 2010 as per directions of TCP Department under the then Digambar Kamat government when Mauvin Godinho was chairman, has not been prepared as yet. Secondly, no inputs from MMC, PWD, WRD, Comunidade, CRZ, Konkan Railway have been taken. All modifications have been carried out against TCP Act which is arbitrary conversion.
Opposing the contentions of the petitioners, Goa government contended that open objections were invited, all of which were incorporated at the time of preparing the ODP. It was thus not required to have separate consultation with municipalities. The government counsel also submitted that the petition had been filed hours before the next meeting scheduled on Friday.
After hearing both the parties, the High Court observed that it sees no emergency in holding the ODP meeting on Friday. In view of court’s observations, SGPDA agreed to postpone its ODP meeting to an undecided date and requested to place the hearing before vacation bench. The High Court thereafter fixed the hearing for December 28.
Addressing the media, Kamat said, “It is a consultative process and not a practice where ODP is prepared and then ask the MMC to file objections. The judge clearly said that MMC should have sat with the SGPDA or vice versa and prepared the plan, which did not happen.”
UGF has accused Godinho of going on a money-making spree for BJP by allegedly converting large mass of land and to help the builders by increasing FARs. “Although the case is against the Margao ODP, it will have repercussions on the other ODPs,” said Avinash Tavares.
