PANAJI
The Goa government on Thursday conceded defeat before the Bombay High Court at Goa and agreed to postpone the Seafood Festival that was to be held at the Miramar beach this weekend to a later unspecified date.
The move came after a stern-faced division bench of the High Court began hearing the State’s application for permission to hold the festival at the Miramar beach over the weekend beginning on February 9 amid a challenge filed by former CCP Corporation Patricia Pinto and others who questioned how the State was going ahead with the festival despite giving an undertaking to the Court that no further festivals would be held on the beach.
On Thursday, Adv Subodh Kantak who was representing the State, on instructions from the Director of Tourism Suneel Anchipaka, IAS, who is present in the Court, told the High Court that the Goa Seafood Festival which was scheduled to be held at Miramar beach on 09.02.2024, would be deferred to some other suitable date.
In the meantime, the State told the High Court that they would file a fresh application seeking permission and a modification of their undertaking given more than two decades ago in Writ Petition No. 55 of 1999 stating that they would not be holding further festivals on the beach.
The petitioners too sought permission from the High Court to amend their petition and place additional facts on record since they too said they filed their petition in a hurry since they got to know of the government’s plans barely days ahead of the festival.
The matter has been kept for hearing on March 26.
