Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: After an “urgent” move in the Supreme Court against the stay on the operations of the ODPs Calangute, Candolim, Parra, Arpora and Nagoa , the Goa Government an sought an adjournment in the hearing before the Apex bench.
Senior government attorney for Goa, Mukul Rohatgi, had asked the court to postpone the hearing by two days, arguing that he had not had enough time to obtain all of the necessary instructions.
Instead of setting a new date, the top court instructed Rohtagi to relocate the vacation bench. The request for an extension came after the Goa government filed an urgent application with the Supreme Court to stay the Bombay High Court’s order halting the Official Development Plans (ODPs) for the Calangute-Candolim Planning Area (2025) and the Arpora-Nagoa-Parra Planning Area (2030), both of which were notified in December 2022.
On May 2, the High Court issued its stay order, and on May 9, the Goa government submitted its request for special leave. The Goa government had petitioned in the SLP for a stay of the previous High Court order that had extended the validity of the ODPs in the five villages through a circular issued by town planning.
Adv Nina Nariman represented the respondent, the Goa Foundation. The High Court ordered the TCP Department, the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA), and the North Goa Collector not to grant permissions, clearances, or changes of zones based on the ODPs notified by in December 2022 during the hearing of a civil application filed by the NGO Goa Foundation through its Secretary Claude Alvares and Roshan Mathias.
The Court also declared that in the event that any authorization was previously granted or presumed to have been granted under the contested Ordinance, then the aforementioned respondents, comprising the
The TCP Board must make sure that no development or construction projects move forward in reliance on these approvals or clearances.
Additionally, the High Court noted that Michael Lobo, the former chairman of the NGPDA and Calangute MLA, was the primary beneficiary of zone changes and conversions. Lobo chaired the NGPDA from 2012 until July 2019.
During Lobo’s tenure, a total of 27,814.62 square meters of land in the five villages were zoned differently and converted.
