PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has directed the village panchayat of Corlim to demolish an illegal structure that was put in at Dhulapi in Corlim in place of an old temple that was demolished for being put up without any permissions from any authorities whatsoever.
Hearing a petition filed by one Nilu Monu Dhulapkar, who is one of the Mahajans/ registered members of Sateri Ravalnath Devasthan at Dhulapi and resident of Dhulapi, the High Court has ruled that the structure was put up without any permissions from any of the prescribed authorities, this structure was put up in open and brazen defiance of the stop work orders issued by the village panchayat as well as several other revenue authorities.
The Devasthan Committee of Shree Sateri Ravalnath Devasthan decided to demolish the old structure of the temple and reconstruct the new temple vide resolution dated 03/07/2022. The new Managing Committee of the Devasthan, without any permissions from the competent authorities, demolished the old structure of the temple and started a new RCC pillar structure in the same place but with a significantly greater area than before.
The petitioner, noticing such construction being carried out without any permission from the village panchayat and other authorities, lodged a complaint with the Village Panchayat of Corlim somewhere in the month of October 2022. On receipt of such complaint, the Village Panchayat of Corlim, vide its stop work notice dated 14/10/2022, directed respondent No.10/Managing Committee of Devasthan to immediately stop illegal construction and produce a licence permissions.
However, despite the stop work order and several other orders from officials like the BDO, work continued on the site, forcing the petitioner to approach the High Court.
“The present structure constructed by respondent No. 10 (Devasthan committee) is completely illegal in the sense that no permissions were obtained before demolishing the old structure and constructing the new structure in its place. Besides, the construction is in breach of the construction regulations or byelaws. There is no existing road. No requisite setbacks, no compliance with the fire safety rules, etc. Admittedly, the old structure was occupying a small area, whereas the present structure is occupying a much larger area. The contention on behalf of respondent No. 10 that the structure complies with all the bye-laws of Regulations 2010 has no substance at all for the simple reason that no one could be permitted to take advantage of its own wrong, knowing fully well the implications of it and then ask for regularisation claiming that it complies with bye-laws. The procedure under the building regulations and bye-laws is to first of all obtain necessary permissions from the Town and Country Planner and the Village Panchayat to get approval for the building plans, to have a proper access/road, etc and then obtain a construction licence from the panchayat. Only because the old temple existing by the site was constructed without any such licence or permission, could not give licence to respondent No.10 to commit such a mistake again,” the High Court ruled.
The High Court also dismissed the argument that the structure, that was built to serve as a temple.
“The panchayat must therefore take steps to remove/ demolish the unauthorised structure put up in breach of the stop work orders and restore the land to its pre-construction stage. Such steps must be taken within three months from today,” the High Court ruled.
