Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has dismissed a decade-old Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning alleged irregularities in shack operations at Calangute beach, holding that the issues raised pertained only to the 2012–2013 tourist season and no longer survived.
A Division Bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Shreeram Shirsat observed that petitioner Reuben Franco had not approached the court with any subsequent grievances after 2014.
The judges noted that successive shack policies framed by the state government already included detailed safeguards on environmental protection, waste management, and regulatory compliance.
“The reliefs sought in the petition appear to be now rendered infructuous… even the fact that the reliefs sought relate to the year 2012-2013, the same is dismissed,” the Bench said in its order, while clarifying that Franco would be free to raise fresh grievances in accordance with law, if any.
Franco, who argued his case in person, had alleged that shacks erected at Umtavaddo, Calangute during the 2012–2013 season were not dismantled after the season ended. He further claimed that shack operators violated licence conditions by constructing septic tanks on the beach.
In response, the Tourism Department, through an affidavit filed in 2014 by then-Director Ameya Abhayankar, stated that inspections had been carried out, the shacks removed, and no septic tanks were found. Officials also pointed out that the 2013–2016 shack policy provided for a robust enforcement mechanism.
Franco contested these claims, citing a survey report and photographs suggesting remnants of a septic tank. However, the Bench held that there was no reason to disbelieve the government’s affidavit, particularly as subsequent shack policies — including the current 2023–2026 policy — mandate strict compliance with environmental and regulatory norms.
