PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Goa Legislative Diploma (Amendment) Act, 2025 and the Goa Comunidade Land Development and Regulation Rules, 2025, which the petitioner claimed were legally inconsistent and discriminatory towards emphyteutic grantees.
The petition, filed in March by an advocate, contended that the newly introduced land regulation rules permitted large-scale land-use changes by developers while restricting similar changes by small emphyteutic landholders.
This, he argued, amounted to unequal treatment and violated Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees the Right to Equality.
The petitioners further submitted that provisions imposing an absolute bar on change of land use, and clauses enabling automatic reversion of land to the Comunidade, contravened Article 300A (Right to Property) of the Constitution.
He argued that the legislation infringed upon the rights of grantees and was subject to judicial review under Article 13, as it restricted fundamental rights guaranteed under Part III of the Constitution. On this basis, he urged the Court to strike down the provisions to the extent of their inconsistency.
However, the High Court rejected the petition. Advocate General Devidas Pangam stated that Court observed that lease agreements are inherently subject to conditions regarding the use of land or property.
The Court ruled that the prohibition on change of use without express permission does not violate constitutional protections; as such conditions are an accepted norm in leasehold arrangements.
