PANAJI
The Supreme Court of India on September 4, issued notice in the petition filed by the Save Old Goa Action Committee challenging the order of the Bombay High Court at Goa that quashed the demolition order issued by the ASI to the allegedly illegal structure that has been built within the protected zone of the Old Goa Heritage site.
"We find that the High Court has found that principles of natural justice had been violated. In the circumstances, prima facie, we find that the matter ought to have been relegated to the Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi for re-considering the matter, after giving reasonable opportunity to all sides of being heard and by following the principles of natural justice. Instead the High Court has simply quashed notice(s) and concluded the proceedings," the bench of Justices B V Nagarathna Ujjal Bhuyan said directing to "issue notice to the respondent(s)."
The Bombay High Court at Goa had quashed and set aside the order passed by the Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi which had ordered the demolition of the controversial structure being built in the vicinity of the historical Church of St Caetano in Old Goa for being passed without first issuing a notice to the affected party and thus being in violation of the principles of natural justice.
The properties have been bought by Corvus Infrastructure Pvt Ltd from Suvarna Suraj Lotlikar and Manish Munot, the husband of BJP leader Shaina NC.
At the centre of the controversy is the method used to obtain permissions for the construction. Since, no permissions for fresh constructions are allowed within 200metre radius from a notified archaeological structure, the project proponents applied for licence of repair/reconstruction claiming there existed a previous structure that was destroyed out of disuse and adverse events that they were seeking to rebuild.
While there did exist a small ‘shed’ known as loja in Portuguese that was used to store coconuts at the site, the proponents claimed that the structure that existed at the site, that they were seeking to rebuild, was much larger and annexed a photograph of a palatial ancient-looking house claiming it was an old photograph of the existing structure proposed for repairs to prove their claims.
That house, however, was found to be still standing and located some 50-km away at a village at Parcem, in Goa’s northernmost taluka of Pernem.
Archaeological superintendent of Goa circle K Amarnath Ramkrishna confirmed as much in a letter he shot off to Arvin Manjul Director (Monuments - II) who had initially granted permission for the repairs.
“The applicant claims that the house in the photograph existed in survey No. 4/1 village Ella (Old Goa) before it was destroyed in a storm in the year 1992. However, … to verify the fact of the matter, this office… visited Parcem village in Pernem taluka... During the inspection it is found that the photograph submitted by the applicant is false and the claim of existence of the house in Survey No. 4.1 of village Ella, before the year 1992 is false,” K Amarnath Ramkrishna, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI Goa Circle had said in his report to his superiors in Delhi.
