Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has issued a notice to the North Goa Planning and Development Authority, Mapusa Municipal Council and two real estate developers on a PIL challenging the rezoning of two plots in the Camarkhazan settlement areas as “commercial C2”.
Two associations – Camarcasan Bundh Tenants Association and Bodhgeshwar Tenants Association – challenged the Mapusa ODP which approved the re-zoning when it was re-notified on November 28, 2016.
The two plots were originally zoned as S1 or Settlement with an FAR of 100. The re-zoning of the two plots belonging to Sunrise Ventura Group and Kapoor Infratech (Delhi) permitted the developers to claim revised plans based on 150 FAR. The associations, which have been joined in the PIL by Goa Foundation, have dubbed the decisions to convert the ODP and grant the parties commercial permissions as an act of corruption.
The PIL has sought the quashing of the approvals granted to both parties, including the ODP changes made to suit their private interests. The PIL points out that both developers were not actually putting up commercial complexes and it actually comprised residential flats.
“Thus, the re-zoning was approved mainly to enable the two developers to increase the number of flats beyond what is permissible in an S1 zone,” the petition said.
