Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: The Mapusa Municipal Council’s decision to stop sending Show Cause Notices (SCN) to hoarding owners has angered the High Court of Bombay in Goa, as they were in place prior to the implementation of the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations 2010.
The High Court proposed to hear the parties involved on the next hearing date, which is July 29, before making an appropriate order during the hearing of a PIL writ petition on Wednesday.
“We propose to hear from the affected parties and then make the necessary orders in light of the 14 show cause notices on which the Chief Officer of the Mapusa Municipal Council dropped the proceedings. The orders were passed on April 26,” HC said
The Division bench of Justices M. S. Karnik and Valmiki Menezes stated, “We are not at all satisfied with the manner in which the show cause notices are withdrawn as this would virtually amount to permitting the hoardings to remain forever.”
During the hearing, Adv S D Padiyar stated that of the 18 SCN, the Mapusa Municipal Council had withdrawn 14, while one hoarding had been demolished and three others had orders for demolition.
The respondent claimed that the notices were withdrawn in response to the hearing with the parties involved. The Bench observed that after reading the orders, they concluded that the reason for withdrawal was that the hoardings had been erected before the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations 2010 took effect. As a result, some of the aforementioned regulations’ provisions were found to be inapplicable.
“We are not at all satisfied with the manner in which the show cause notices are withdrawn as this would virtually amount to permitting the hoardings to remain forever,” the Court stated, expressing disappointment with the Mapusa Council’s findings.
“We plan to hear from the impacted parties and then issue the necessary directives. It read, “The Mapusa Municipal Council is requested to notify the 14 individuals that they may appear before this Court on the following date and respond to what is indicated.”
