PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has warned that panchayat secretaries will personally face costs if they continue to disregard court directions, as it imposed Rs 10,000 on the Secretary of Taleigao Village Panchayat for failing to file an affidavit despite nearly two months having passed since the court ordered him to do so.
“We are imposing costs,” the Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar said on Tuesday, directing the VP Secretary Gaurish Pednekar to deposit the amount with the Goa State Legal Services Authority within one week.
The Bench was particularly critical because the matter had reached the contempt stage and the court had expected the officer to ensure compliance with its earlier order. “The least you could do is to file an affidavit. We expected at least this on contempt proceedings... The attitude is such that every secretary is doing this. From now on, every VP Secretary will face costs,” it remarked.
The court was hearing a contempt petition alleging inaction on its earlier order regarding an unauthorised structure on Jayant Volvoikar’s plot. The original petition had sought directions to the Taleigao p'yat to act against the alleged construction and stop activities being carried out there.
In its December 8, 2025 order, the court recorded the panchayat’s undertaking to decide Volvoikar’s complaints dated July 4 and September 19, 2025, by January 31, 2026, following which the petition was disposed of.
The petitioner then filed a contempt plea in July alleging that directions were not complied with. The Bench then allowed the respondent to file an affidavit in reply and directed that it be filed within three weeks.
On Tuesday, the court was informed that the structure in question was to be demolished. However, the Bench noted that the p'yat secretary, who was the contemnor in the proceedings, had still not filed the affidavit.
“Almost two months have elapsed, and no affidavit has been filed. We are therefore constrained to impose the costs on the p'yat secretary,” it ordered.
