HC seeks report on ancillary plans to Tivim cricket stadium
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 3
Goa Cricket Association (GCA) will have to submit a detailed plan on the ancillary activities planned alongside Tivim cricket stadium to Bombay High Court at Goa by Thursday.
The directions were passed after Advocate Surendra Desai, appearing on behalf of GCA clarified that the ancillary facilities planned at Tivim would include a club house, a swimming pool and a gym.
Adv Desai’s clarification came after Adv Norma Alvares appearing for Goa Foundation said that land has been acquired not just for cricket stadium alone but also to house ancillary activities like parking lots, rooms, restaurants, pub etc.
“It’s an international cricket stadium, which requires ancillary facilities. Players from across the world will be visiting this stadium so as the people. Hence, we need to take into consideration all the aspects of an international stadium,” Desai pointed out.
During the argument, Ms Alvares said that without prior permission from the Union forest ministry, the acquired land has been transferred in the name of a private party-GCA.
“The user agency, which is planning out the ancillary activity, is not the same to whom the No Objection Certificate (NOC) or lease was granted,” she said adding, that in March 2010, the ownership has been transferred from directorate of sports to GCA.
The Division Bench was hearing a petition filed by Goa Foundation, an NGO, which had approached the court seeking to quash and set aside the forest clearance granted to the Director of Sports by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on November 30, 2009 and final clearance subsequently.
The state government had acquired 1,30,000 sq mtrs of land at Tivim for the proposed stadium. Part of the land comprises paddy fields and the rest is forest.
The petitioner contended that the State government at no point of time informed the Ministry of Environment and Forests that it was seeking to clear the forest at the behest of a private association.
