PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has disposed a petition filed by a resident of Caranzalem against the cordoning off of a public park by a residential society along the Dona Paula-Miramar Road.
The petition was filed by one Gourav Jaswal and the Goa Foundation against the Shalom residential society which put a gate around the garden to prevent public access. When the matter came up before the court, lawyers representing Shalom told the court that they had spent a lot of money on beautifying and protecting the park. The gate, they told the court, was to prevent stray cows from entering the garden.
The CCP denied the park belonged to it, but did not hesitate to pass a resolution permitting Shalom to carry out the beautification measures. Ultimately, it emerged that the park belonged to the Town and Country Planning department which expressed inability to maintain it.
Finally, the Forest Department was told to look after it at the cost of the TCP.
