HC junks rules allowing changes to Goa green zones

THE COURT NOTED THAT AUTHORITIES HAD APPROVED 353 APPLICATIONS UNDER SEC 17(2), AFFECTING ABOUT 26.54L-SQM LAND

- Gerard de Souza

PANAJI: The Bombay High Court at Goa on Thursday struck down rules allowing plot-by-plot changes to Goa's regional development plan, ruling they were arbitrary and unconstitutional.

The court invalidated the Goa Town and Country Planning (Alteration/Modification in the Regional Plan for Rectification of Inconsistent/Inadvertent Zoning Proposals) Rules, 2023, while also narrowing the interpretation of their parent provision — Section 17(2) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act. The rules were challenged by activist groups, including the Goa Foundation, who argued they violated Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution by prioritising individual plot owners over the common good.

"Almost all the conversions are from paddy fields, natural cover, no development zone and orchard to settlement zones," the court observed. "This may be a miniscule percentage as contended by the State, but the applications are being filed, entertained and conversions granted for which there is no outer limit," said the order by the division bench of Justices MS Karnik and Nivedita P Mehta said.