PANAJI
The Goa Chief Secretary has issued a series of instructions to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to improve the functioning and effectiveness of the coastal regulatory body after the National Green Tribunal passed strictures against the authority for delaying acting against Zinho’s beach resort in Calangute.
In an order issued on April 18, the Chief Secretary has directed that “the GCZMA shall initiate necessary proceedings on the following day of the receipt of a complaint or order received from any court.”
“The matters by the NGT, High Court and the Supreme Court shall be given top priority and be decided in two months. The GCZMA may hear the court-referred cases at least once a week so that they would not be lost in oblivion. For regular matters also the GCZMA shall conduct and conclude the proceedings in three months,” the Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel said.
The CS also directed the state government to develop a “portal on the website of the GCZMA for systematic monitoring and disposal of the cases as it is done by various courts.”
“All the cases undertaken by the GCZMA shall be given a unique ID number for monitoring at any given point of time and easy accessibility to the public at large. The member secretary shall assess the manpower, software and hardware requirements and put it into place for better efficiency of the GCZMA and performance,” the Chief Secretary said in his order.
The Member Secretary GCZMA shall nominate one counsel in the department who will work as a nodal officer and responsible for all coordination and compliances of the directions issued by the courts to the GCZMA, the Chief Secretary also said.
In an affidavit filed before the NGT, the Chief Secretary has expressed his regret for the GCZMA’s failure to act against the offending structure.
“Out of the 76 meetings of the GCZMA conducted between 11.11.2019 and 11.02.2022 the present matter was taken up 13 times out of which an adjournment was given at the request of the plaintiffs and thrice at the request of the respondents. That apart, the authority adjourned the matter twice. Thus frequent adjournments totalling six out of the 13 times the matter was taken up were given by the GCZMA in the case,” Goel said in his
affidavit.
“It is evident that the delay was caused due to a variety of reasons attributable to the authorities including long hearings and adjournment not keeping proper track of the report awaited from other departments, not using advance software and efficient manpower required for smooth functioning regarding all of which the deponent has suggested remedial measures to be adopted by the GCZMA to preclude such instances,” he added.
The NGT had pulled up the Goa Government and directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit of compliance in which the GCZMA was found to be delaying in taking action against Zinho’s beach resort in Calangute.
The Chief Secretary admitted that there was “persistent default in submissions of the action taken report... and finalisation of the proceedings relating to the case by the GCZMA.”
