Team Herald
MARGAO: The Supreme Court of India on Friday dismissed the Special Leave to Appeal (SLP) filed by a Colva hotel challenging the order of High Court of Bombay at Goa pertaining to the illegal structure.
“It is appalling how the judicial process has been abused by violators with financial strength and definitely as this case proves in collusion with the pliant authorities,” reacted Judith Almeida, complainant.
She further said that the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) had no legal authority to review its own order and that too after the GCZMA directions dated December 5, 2018 had merged with the dismissal order of the Supreme Court case. This is a classic case of collusion for illegal benefits between the authorities and the violators.
“It is about time that the citizens stand up. The struggle for environmental justice must be fought from all fronts, if we have to have a safer earth and a society that follows the rule of law,” Almeida said.
She said, “The GCZMA must now have its own demolition team to prevent the farce that took place on Thursday, where the PWD could not make it for the lack of funds to hire the equipment.”
A day before the demolition of illegal structures of a hotel situated at Colva was deferred due to no funds with the Public Works Department to hire the demolition equipment.
The entire machinery including heavy police force with CRZ and Electricity Department personnel were all set to carry out the demolition as per order of the CRZ Authority. Interestingly, the PWD did not send the required machinery claiming that they were not paid for hiring the machinery.
