the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa will examine the "interpretation of the ambit and scope" of Section 8 of the Investment Promotion Act to determine whether the Board, as alleged by the Goa Foundation and several other petitioners, could have granted the ‘in-principle' permissions that it did give to five projects in particular.
Hearing the petition filed by the Goa Foundation, which challenged permissions given by the IPB to the Mini India Park project at Quelossim, the eco tourism project at Vanxim among others has questioned how the ‘in principle' permission was given despite Section 8 of the Act disallowing the IPB from recommending projects in CRZ areas for investment promotion.
Section 8 of the IPB Act reads that the Board "shall not recommend following class of lands for the purpose of setting up of projects or for investment promotion under this Act: (i) Khazan Land and low lying paddy fields except for the purpose of activities as permissible thereon, such as, agriculture, dairy farming and other allied activities; (ii) Sloped land with a gradient of more than 25%; (iii) forest lands and wildlife areas except for the purpose of activities as permissible thereon, such as gaming reserve, sanctuary lodges, ecotourism, forest tourism, etc; (iv) Coastal Regulatory Zone areas except where the foreshore facilities are required and tenanted agricultural land except for agricultural activities carried out by tenant /deemed purchaser.
Adv Norma Alvares of the Goa Foundation argued that the IPB "is not empowered to grant permissions (even in principle) except as specifically permitted in those sub-clauses.
"The projects in question in these two petitions are all non-conforming -- they do not fall within the permissible exceptions -- and therefore no in-principle approval could ever have been granted," Alvares argued in response to the government's contention that the IPB's approvals were only ‘in principle' and the promoters would still have to seek permissions from the
WHAT SECTION 8 SAYS
Board shall not recommend projects under the following class of lands
Khazan land and low lying paddy fields except for agriculture, dairy farming etc
Sloped land with gradient of more than 25 per cent
Forest land and wildlife areas except for gaming reserve, sanctuary lodges, ecotourism, forest tourism, etc
CRZ areas except where foreshore facilities are required
