GCZMA to hear review plea today; NGT petition on inaction still pending
PANAJI
More than five months after being served a demolition order, the beach club Bastian Riviera in Morjim, owned by a Bollywood actor, has approached the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) seeking a review of its earlier decision. The authority is expected to take up the matter during its meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18.
At its 464th meeting held on July 10, 2025, the GCZMA had directed Carrick Bend Realty LLP, the firm operating the beach club, to demolish eight unauthorised structures at the site. These included high RCC plinth beams, masonry walls, MS channel structures with GI sheet roofing, RCC tanks on the western side of the property and other constructions. The authority had also suspended all prior permissions granted to the project until complete compliance with the demolition order.
The GCZMA order covered structures located in survey numbers 118, 118/0 and 118/1-S-1 to 118/1-S-4, and mandated that the area be restored to its original condition within 30 days from July 10, 2025. The order had further stated that failure to comply within the stipulated period would require the Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) to initiate action.
Subsequently, on September 7, the GCZMA issued a formal demolition order directing the Bardez Deputy Collector to raze the illegal structures within 30 days. However, despite the lapse of the deadline, the structures remain intact and the beach club continues to stand.
Confirming the latest development, a senior government officer said that Carrick Bend Realty LLP has filed an application before the GCZMA requesting a review of its demolition order. “The matter is listed for discussion in Thursday’s meeting,” the officer said, adding that the firm is expected to be represented by a senior counsel during the hearing.
Sources familiar with the case said the land on which the beach club has been constructed belongs to a tenant and had leased to Carrick Bend Realty LLP under Section 18K of the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act. “As per the provisions of this section, the land can be used strictly for agricultural purposes and not for commercial activities,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, a petition filed before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Western Zone Bench, is still pending in connection with the alleged inaction by authorities in enforcing the demolition order. The applicants have contended that a full-fledged bar and restaurant, along with a concrete swimming pool, is operating right on the Chapora riverbank at Morjim despite the GCZMA’s demolition directions. They have also alleged that the project has blocked traditional access routes used by local fishermen.
As reported earlier by The Goan, the operators of the beach club have rolled out a December calendar featuring music events and VIP parties, even as regulatory and legal proceedings continue.
The applicants before the NGT have alleged that the prolonged official silence and lack of enforcement point to possible protection being extended to the project by “influential persons or powerful interests”, raising serious concerns about selective action and regulatory failure.
