the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday asked the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) to measure the width of a road leading to two plots in Camarcazan as part of the recently approved Mapusa Outline Development Plan (ODP).
Hearing a petition filed by the Camarcazan Bundh Tenants Association and the Bodgeshwar Tenants Association, the Division Bench of Justices Prithviraj Chavan and N M Jamdar issued interim orders after the petitioners claimed the change in zoning as part of the ODP was illegal.
“The two associations will challenged the Mapusa ODP which approved the rezoning when it was renotified on November 28, 2016. The two plots were originally zoned as S1 or Settlement with a floor area ratio (FAR) of 100. The rezoning of the two plots to C1 belonging to Sunrise Ventura Group and Kapoor Infratech (Delhi) permitted the two developers to claim revised plans based on 150 FAR,” the Goa Foundation which has also joined petition has said.
The PIL has argued that both developers were not actually putting up commercial complexes. The entire “commercial” complex comprised residential flats. Thus, the rezoning was approved mainly to enable the two developers to increase the number of flats beyond what is permissible in an S1 zone.
The petitioners also argued that in both cases, the permission had been granted on the basis of an access road that did not meet the required regulations on road width. The HC, referring to an earlier judgement on the need to approve projects based on “existing” access, directed a site inspection of the plot and road access with the planning authorities, respondents and petitioners. The site inspection is fixed on November 5, at 3.30 pm.
