MARGAO
Former tourism minister Mickky Pacheco has strongly condemned the recent circular issued by the Directorate of Panchayats, dated June 23, 2026, which forces mandatory "deemed approval" timelines on local village bodies.
Terming the directive "completely arbitrary, dictatorial, and detached from ground reality," Pacheco alleged that the sudden urgency shown by the Panchayat Minister indicates a desperate rush to please outside real estate lobbies before the current political tenure concludes.
He has demanded the immediate withdrawal of this arbitrary circular, insisting that deadlines must be set realistically, and no "deemed approval" should ever be recognized without a physical, joint inspection and the explicit, written consent of the elected local Panchayat body.
"The government must immediately stop rushing to serve the builder lobby and start protecting the land, the infrastructure, and the identity of the people of Goa," Pacheco added.
Saying that the panchayats are democratic bodies and not rubber stamps for builders, Pacheco said a village panchayat is a constitutionally mandated local self-government meant to safeguard the environment and interests of the local community. “The Panchayat Minister is treating these elected bodies like corporate clearance windows operating under duress, systematically taking away their powers to favour mega-builders and commercial interests”, he said.
Pointing out that the Village Panchayats are not technical departments equipped with engineers, he said “to process construction or occupancy applications, they must rely on external technical surveyors to conduct actual on-ground inspections. Expecting a small village administration to receive an application, hire an outside surveyor, schedule an inspection, verify facts, and pass a resolution within 15 days is an impossible demand”, he added.
Terming the "Deemed Approval" a dangerous loophole, Pacheco said if a Panchayat fails to respond within 15 days due to staff shortages, public holidays, or lengthy site inspections, a project automatically gets "deemed approval." “This creates an alarming loophole. Wealthy, powerful applicants can easily manipulate or delay the local administrative process to run out the 15-day clock, completely snatching away the village's right to object to destructive mega-projects”.
