Legal fraternity accuses govt machinery of taking superficial action to defuse tension
PANAJI
The order of Bombay High Court at Goa has temporarily protected the controversial bungalow at the UNESCO site from demolition, but it has sparked off a debate in the State with the legal fraternity accusing government machinery of taking superficial action to defuse the tension, which clashed with the 2022 Assembly polls.
The riverside bungalow, built on 11,900 sq mtrs property, has been entangled in legal challenges for blatant violation of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 which bans construction within the world heritage monuments.
The Additional Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India in New Delhi directed to raze the illegal structure, though it indirectly gave ample opportunity to property owners to legally challenge its action.
Advocate Cleofato Coutinho said that the High Court order was expected due to ASI’s “deliberate” and “stupid” demolition order in 2022. “The High Court order is on expected lines. The violator was entitled to be heard before any order was passed. My view is that ASI deliberately passed such a stupid order only to help the violator. It is elementary that violator is entitled to notice before any adverse is passed,” he said.
Advocate Aires Rodrigues, who has taken politicians head-on on various issues, echoed his colleague’s views while adding that the High Court order is in accordance with the law.
“There should be no attempt to misrepresent this judicial order. As predicted, that outrageous bungalow of BJP national spokesperson Shaina NC which has come up within the heritage precincts at Old Goa has due to lack of diligence by the authorities now got a temporary legal reprieve,” he said.
The matter may drag on for years if not decades while it travels through various stages of our cumbersome legal process, Rodrigues said.
With BJP facing political storm months before the 2022 polls wherein Opposition parties made the best use of the situation, Adv Coutinho opined, “Such bad orders are resorted to get around difficult political situations and make the courts scapegoat.” It was passed to cool down the rising societal temperature, he added.
BJP spokesperson Shaina NC’s husband Manish Navratn Munot is said to be the co-owner of the huge bungalow along with the wife of a former Goa Forward Party leader. The property was allegedly sold to a Mumbai based M/s Corvus Urban Infrastructure limited liability partnership (LLP) when the controversy broke out.
Munot and Suvarna Lotlikar, as per records had acquired the 11,900 sq metre property in May 2015 from a Goan family wherein Munot possessed 9,500 sq mtrs and Lotlikar 2,400 sq mtrs.
BJP that distanced itself from the issue however could not stop its spokesperson Savio Rodrigues from giving his take on the development. Rodrigues took the lead to term the High Court order as ‘disappointing.’ “While respecting the wisdom of the Goa bench of Bombay HC. The order of HC quashing the ASI order against the illegal bungalow in Old Goa is disappointing. It is an illegal bungalow and therefore it must be demolished,” he tweeted.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that ran a marathon campaign to ensure the demolition of the structure is now looking at legal options to challenge the order. Prajal Sakhardande of the Goa Heritage Action Group has expressed “shock” as he demanded to quash the High Court’s order itself.
“I am shocked to learn that the High Court has quashed the order of demolition of the property that has been located within the UNESCO-certified zone. What’s wrong? We need to question this (order) because the bungalow is the biggest violation of the heritage site. The order (of the High Court) needs to be quashed,” he said, insisting that the bungalow is illegal.
