lCCP Commissioner used a HC court order of 2008, in a different case, but on same road, ground for giving NOC l However HC order, unlike the ground made out by CCP, did not direct the CCP to give NOC or waive it l Herald has copies of the draft note on which the Rodrigues inserted the condition to adhere to the 2008 HC order
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: In September 2007, the High Court had treated letters to the editor on the construction of drainage, parking lot, walking track and filling up the drain, amounting to wastage of public funds as a Suo Moto Writ petition.
In the closing stages of the argument, the counsel for the GSIDC had submitted that work would not take more than four months. However the process of issuing tenders, engaging contractors would take time. Hence, he submitted that the CCP be “directed” to ‘cooperate’ with the GSIDC by providing NOC’s or in the alternative waive these requirements in favour of the GSIDC. The counsel for the CCP assured cooperation, on the basis of which the court disposed of the matter.
Taking this order as a precedent ( where the High Court gave no directions at all to the CCP to give NOC’s or waive them entirely),CCP on the Commissioners direction, decided to give the go ahead to GSIDC for the concretization of the Dona Paula Miramar road, without referring the issue to the Corporation body and the Mayor.
In fact Rodrigues as CCP Commissioner was so keen to actually use submissions made by the GSIDC counsel to take a decision as CCP commissioner that when the draft note for the issuance of the NOC came to him, he added two points in his own handwriting. The last point (in CCP Commissioner Rodrigues’ own handwriting) read “orders of Honourable high Court in SMWP no 3/07 may be adhered to”
The Mayor Surendra Furtado sees this is a serious breach. “It’s a wrong condition inserted by the commissioner to mislead and confuse. This was inserted to force a ground when none exists, to give the NOC for a Rs 72 crore project by keeping the city fathers in the dark.”
