PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday pulled up some coastal village panchayats (VPs) for failing to comply with its earlier directions to file affidavits on permissions granted to commercial establishments, and directed the Director of Panchayats to ensure that the defaulting panchayat secretaries remain personally present for the next hearing.
The Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Hiten Venegavkar noted that despite a final extension granted in March, some VPs had neither filed the required affidavits nor appeared before the court.
Observing the seriousness of the issues raised in the proceedings, the Bench directed the Director of Panchayats to ensure that the secretaries of the defaulting VPs appear in person during the next hearing and submit sworn affidavits in compliance with the court's February 16 order.
The affidavits are required to disclose the number of construction permissions, trade licences and occupancy certificates issued by each coastal panchayat to commercial establishments.
The directions were issued in the ongoing suo motu public interest litigation arising from the December 6, 2025 fire at the Birch by Romeo Lane restaurant in Arpora, in which 25 people lost their lives. While initially examining the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, the High Court later widened the scope of the proceedings to scrutinise systemic lapses in the grant of construction approvals and business licences by local bodies.
The Bench had, on March 30, granted a final opportunity to the remaining coastal VPs to file the affidavits after several others had already complied with the February directive.
The earlier Division Bench of Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Amit Borkar Jamsandekar had described it as “a clear case of violation of fundamental rights”, while directing all coastal VPs to place details of approvals granted to commercial establishments on record.
