PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has issued notices to the local authorities and some developers for developing tenanted lands at Mapusa.
The notices were issued following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Bodgeshwar Shetkari Sangh, Camakhazan Tenants Association and Goa Foundation.
The notices are returnable on December 11, 2019. The petition alleges that survey number 3/3 is tenanted land, protected under the Goa Land Use Act, 1991. However, the North Goa Planning & Development Authority allowed the plot to be zoned as C1 in violation of the Land Use Act.
The petitioners have challenged the “not tenants” declaration by the developers and some parties as fraud. The PIL has also asked for an inquiry into the tenancy status of the plots on which some buildings have come up and asked for their demolition if inquiry comes to the conclusion that the lands are tenanted.
The petitioners have further sought the court’s intervention to protect the tenanted lands in Mapusa, stating that as most of these being tenanted, are now being allowed for development through collusion between authorities, tenants and developers.
