Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: In a significant ruling on February 6, 2025, the Supreme Court of India rejected a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Goa government, upholding the Bombay High Court’s order to halt construction activities in the Outline Development Plan (ODP) areas of Calangute, Candolim, Arpora, Nagoa, and Parra. This decision comes after a prolonged legal battle initiated by the Goa Foundation against the alleged illegalities in the ODPs.
The apex court, comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma, dismissed the Goa government’s SLP following a brief hearing. Justice Sharma emphasized the need to preserve Goa’s natural beauty, cautioning, “Please don’t turn Goa into a concrete jungle.”
The High Court’s order, issued on January 23, 2025, was a result of a detailed hearing by a bench consisting of Justices M.S. Karnik and Nivedita P Mehta. The state government had moved the Supreme Court with its SLP on January 20, 2025, in an attempt to overturn the High Court’s directive.
The original Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Goa Foundation has been in limbo for over a year, with the state government repeatedly attempting to defend the ODPs. The PIL challenged the illegalities found in the Calangute-Candolim 2018 and Arpora, Nagoa, Parra 2020 ODPs. In April 2022, the state government had suspended these ODPs and appointed a Review Committee, which identified large-scale rezoning of plots to benefit private parties, bypassing established procedures.
Despite accepting the Review Committee’s report, the state government renotified the ODPs in December 2022, retaining many of the questionable zone changes. The petition alleged that new zoning changes were made during the renotification process. The state government later withdrew all five villages as planning areas, effectively collapsing the ODPs. However, a circular issued on December 22, 2022, aimed to keep the ODPs alive, which was subsequently stayed by the High Court.
To circumvent the stay, the Goa government issued an ordinance to maintain the ODPs, prompting the Goa Foundation to move the High Court again. The High Court stayed the operation of the ODPs via an order on May 2, 2024. The state government then approached the Supreme Court, which stayed the High Court’s order but directed that all construction under the ODPs would be subject to the final outcome of the writ petition.
In December 2024, the Goa Foundation discovered that the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department was issuing construction permissions in the five ODP villages, leading them to seek a restraint order from the High Court. The High Court granted this application on January 23, 2025, reaffirming that no changes would be allowed in the affected villages until the petition was heard and disposed of.
The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the Goa government’s latest SLP marks a significant milestone in this ongoing legal battle, ensuring that the High Court’s order to halt construction in these areas remains in effect.
