Team Herald
MARGAO: With the legal adviser to Margao Municipal Council (MMC) having reportedly advised the council that construction licences should be issued for three years, the stage is now set for all municipal councils in the State to amend their ways and brace itself to refunding the license fees collected for the last about 10 years since the building laws came into force.
It would be pertinent to note that in the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations 2010 where the Appendix C3, which is a format for construction licence, very clearly mentions that the licence is valid for three years.
However, in violation of this, MMC and some other councils have been issuing construction licence for one year only with the applicant having to renew it every year by paying a renewal fee instead of renewing it after three years.
Some people had pointed out to this wrongdoing on the part of MMC and threatened to move the courts to stop this malpractice and also demanded that the money collected every year be refunded to the person concerned.
The council had sought the legal opinion of its advocate R M Lotlikar on the matter and he is reported to have advised the council to start issuing construction licenses for three years.
Refusing to divulge any information on the issue, Chief Officer Y B Tavde said, “It is for the council to decide upon the matter” whose meeting schedule would be finalised only after the Assembly elections are declared on March 11.
When asked about refunding the money already collected for unnecessarily renewing the licenses every year, he said, “The council will have to take a call on that too.”
Meanwhile, following this development, the heat is being felt by other municipal councils too as many of them have been issuing construction license for only one year.
For example, the Cuncolim Municipal Council also has been issuing construction licenses for one year which had to be renewed every year. One such affected person, who has developed an area in Cuncolim and constructed bungalows on various plots, has now threatened to file recovery proceedings against the Cuncolim Municipal Council to recover the money he was forced to pay as license fee to the council.
