PANAJI
In a setback for Sancoale residents opposing a large real-estate project by Bhutani, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation seeking to overturn permissions granted for the development.
The PIL, filed by social worker Peter D’Souza and four others from Vasco and Sancoale, had urged the court to quash and set aside the project’s technical clearance, construction licence and conversion sanad.
The petition also sought to restrain Parmesh Constructions Company Ltd, also known as Bhutani Infra, from undertaking any work based on these approvals.
The petitioners argued that the project would destroy green cover, harm biodiversity, and deplete natural resources, with serious implications for the local groundwater table. They claimed the development posed a direct risk to the well-being of villagers.
The petition also stated that permissions were granted for the construction of multi-family villas and swimming pools without mandatory road access under the Building Regulations 2010. The petitioners further alleged that the technical clearance issued on February 2, 2024 was unlawful, and that the site had been wrongly shown as lying in a Commercial (C-1) Zone.
They contended that the conversion sanad granted by the Additional Collector I, South Goa, was presented as an amendment to a conversion order issued in July 2007. That earlier order, they argued, had lapsed and could not legally be revived or altered from residential to commercial use.
