High Court rejected a section of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, saying that it is in the interest of private landowners
Bombay HC: The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court rejected a section of the Town and Country Planning Act 1974. The High Court said that it is linked to the interest of private landowners. The section allowed the creation of zones within zones.
The Bombay High Court's Goa Bench quashed one section of the Town and Country Planning Act 1974. It ruled that it is related to the interest of the owners of the private lands. The section allowed the creation of zones within zones.
Three civic organizations approached the High Court with a public interest litigation (PIL) against a section in the Goa Town and Country Planning Act 1974. It alleged that Section 17 (2) of the Act was destroying the regional planning. It was meant to facilitate the authorities to rectify accidental errors or to rectify inconsistent or contradictory zoning.
A division bench of Justices Nivedita P Mehta and MS Karnik struck down Section 17 (2), saying it is not meant to pursue development in sustainable and public interest with environmental issues, but deals with the interests of private landowners. The bench said the state has told us that between March 2023 and January 2 this year, 353 approvals have been made under Section 17 (2), affecting an area of about 26,54,286 square meters.
The court said applications are being filed, considered and changes are being made for which there is no outer limit. Almost all conversions are from paddy fields, natural cover, no-development area and orchards to settlement areas. The court said that such plot-by-plot conversion, creating another zone within a zone is distorting the regional planning.
The Goa Foundation, Khazan Society of Goa, and Goa Bachao Abhiyan had filed a PIL in the High Court in June 2023. It challenged the constitutional validity of Section 17(2) of the Act and sought its repeal. The petition said that this section gave arbitrary and uncontrolled powers to the government to change the zoning of plots within the regional plan on the basis of individual requests from private parties claiming to be victims of errors in the plan. The petitioners had said that the section was being misused to change the status of large tracts of land for commercial purposes.
