Team Herald
PANJIM: The 12 ‘illegal structures’ situated within 300 metres of the centrally protected monument Basilica of Bom Jesus Church at Old Goa, got a reprieve as the Additional Director of Panchayats-I, Panjim quashed and set aside the demolition order of the Se Old Goa village panchayat and upheld the appeal filed by late Shalini Madkaikar.
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Last month, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has directed the Additional Director of Panchayats-I to decide within four weeks the appeal filed by late Madkaikar challenging the demolition order passed by the Se Old Goa village panchayat by an order dated April 24, 2023.
The panchayat had ordered demolition of these structures since they were built without obtaining permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), construction licence from the village panchayat or technical clearance from the TCP Department. The panchayat had noted in the demolition order that all the structures were new structures and there were no documents that had permitted construction of the said structures.
But within 15 days, Madkaikar obtained an ex-parte ad-interim stay of demolition order at the very first hearing form the Director of Panchayat in appeal and as there was no hearing for almost a year, Vasco Seby Dias of Fontainhas, Panjim approached the High Court seeking directions to the authorities to demolish the 12 illegal structures at Old Goa and to disconnect electricity and water connections to them.
The Additional Director of Panchayats-I in her order stated that from the documents produced on record by the appellant and the respondents, it appears that the appellant had not done any new construction to the said properties nor the respondents had produced on record any material to substantiate their allegations that the deceased appellant carried out any new illegal construction in her property nor produced any document on record to show that the deceased appellant or her relatives had built new construction.
The Additional Director of Panchayats-I further observed that the village panchayat had issued necessary provisional NOCs and permissions to the sons of the appellants for operating businesses from time to time.
In November 2024, after the Tiswadi Taluka Mamlatdar Kaushik Dessai in his report stressed the need to remove these structures as it would cause traffic bottleneck during the St Francis Xavier Exposition. North Goa Collector Sneha Gitte, IAS wrote to both, the Additional Director of Panchayats-I and the Director of Panchayats, Panjim to decide on the appeal expeditiously as the demolition order could not be executed due to ex-parte stay.
