PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa on Tuesday refused to grant the hotel owner an additional six months to demolish his four-storeyed structure at Girkar wada in Arambol.
The hotel was ordered to be demolished after it was found to be operating without valid permissions.
The court also asked the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to clarify on the cost and time it would take to demolish the structure. The next hearing of this case will be held on Wednesday.
A local, Ravi Harmalkar, had complained to the panchayat about the illegal operation of the hotel and when authorities did not take action in the matter, Harmalkar took the matter to court.
The court had ordered the demolition of the building and had directed the deputy collector and Pernem police to seal the building on October 25 and to disconnect electricity and water connections to the building within 48 hours.
The hotel owner then gave an assurance to the court that the construction would be demolished within six weeks.
The court then gave him a deadline of December 13 to demolish the building. But before the deadline, the hotel owner approached the Supreme Court in a bid to save his structure from demolition. The Supreme Court, however, rejected his petition.
In view of this, the hotel owner went back to the high court and sought six months to demolish the building. When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, the high court refused to grant him six more months for the demolition.
