Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: A notification of zone change issued under the recently amended section 17(2) of the Town and Country Planning Amendment Act, which had “rectified” a paddy field into settlement, was stayed by the Bombay High Court in Goa.
The High Court granted interim relief to Gaurav Bakshi, who had filed a petition challenging the notification regarding a 6,000 square meter paddy field that had been “rectified” and represented as a settlement in the notification.
The petition also requested a stay on the notification regarding the plot located in Cujira village of Tiswadi taluka.
The petitioner’s advocate informed the media that while the plot in question was correctly depicted in the Regional Plan 2021 as a paddy field, the Town and Country Planning Department processed the applicant’s request that his plot be shown as a settlement even though it was a paddy field by abusing Section 17(2) of the law, which permits the “rectification” of errors in the Regional Plan.
The High Court is currently deliberating over a number of petitions that contest specific notifications sent out in accordance with section 17(2) of the Act in addition to petitions that contest the Act itself.
