Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: A large number of old residential structures in Goa’s coastal belt could get a clearer route towards regularisation following a decision by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) on how CRZ-related cases should be handled.
The Authority has said residential dwelling units that were already in existence before February 1991 can be considered for regularisation under the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016, even when questions arise over their location within Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas.
The relaxation, however, comes with several conditions. Applicants will have to establish the structure’s pre-1991 existence through conclusive documentary evidence. The dwelling must also have the necessary approvals from the concerned authorities and should remain substantially in the same shape and size.
Structures that came up after 1991 have not been covered by the same clarification. The GCZMA has directed that such cases be placed before the Authority before the competent officer takes a decision on regularisation.
The clarification followed repeated references from Deputy Collectors dealing with applications submitted under the 2016 regularisation law. Officials had sought guidance in cases where the properties involved were situated within, or were suspected to fall within, CRZ areas.
The GCZMA observed that determining the CRZ status is important because coastal regulations could affect whether an unauthorised structure is eligible for regularisation in the first place.
Until now, such applications have generally been sent to the Authority on a case-by-case basis for determining the applicable CRZ limits. The GCZMA said the volume of individual references demonstrated the need for a consistent procedure.
The Authority has directed that CRZ-related determinations should be made with reference to the approved CRZ maps, Coastal Zone Management Plan, relevant notifications and other statutory provisions applicable at the time the regularisation application is considered.
This, the Authority said, would help ensure that similar applications are treated consistently and prevent varying interpretations of CRZ limits.
Under the 2016 Act, Deputy Collectors can consider specified unauthorised residential and commercial structures located on private, Comunidade or government land, subject to the requirements of the legislation and applicable rules.
The GCZMA said the new approach is aimed at making the process more consistent and transparent while allowing eligible applications to move forward without repeated case-by-case uncertainty over CRZ boundaries.
