Seeks quashing of permissions for land conversion
PANAJI
Challenging the conversion of more than 3.83 lakh square metres of land falling in the command area of the Tillari irrigation project for the benefit of the Deltin Town Integrated Resort Complex at Dhargal village and declaring it as an investment promotion area, activists Swapnesh Sherlekar and Rohidas Harmalkar have approached the Bombay High Court at Goa to quash the permissions for the project as unconstitutional.
In a writ petition filed before the High Court at Goa, the duo pointed out that back in 2015, the Secretary (Water Resources) and Chief Executive of Command Area Development Board for TIP (Tillari Irrigation Project) notified a Development Scheme Command Area Development and Water Management Program covering several villages under different talukas in Goa.
The petitioners further pointed out that all the Survey Numbers listed as per the environmental clearance for the project also appear in the list of Survey Numbers notified as Command Area of TIP in Dhargal Village, Pernem Taluka and further were included as part of a draft Notification declaring the project area for ‘Deltin Town,’ an Investment Promotion Area under Clause (a) of Sub-Section (1) of Section 42 of the Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation of Single Window Clearance Act, 2021.
“Changing the land use of the said land parcels to Commercial (C4 according to the Conversion Sanad) and removing their agricultural uses will lead to extinguishing their potential for irrigation and/or cultivation, which is in contradiction to the purpose and interest of the Command Areas, besides being illegal, as there was no Command Area Development Board constituted at the time of granting NOC/Permission. Said zoning conversions, and the notification of the project area as an Investment Promotion Area, further deprives the Petitioners of their right to a planned environment, a component of the right to life, Article 21 of the Constitution,” the petition alleged.
The writ petition has been filed challenging the in-principle approval for Delta Corp’s Integrated Resort Complex (‘Deltin Town’); the declaration of the project area as an Investment Promotion Area, and the provisions of the Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation of Single Window Clearance Act, 2021–more particularly Sections 13 (G), 14 (2), 14 (3), 14 (4), 38 (8), 39 (1), 42, 43, 45 and Section 59 – as being unconstitutional and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The petitioners challenge the provisions on the grounds of lack of legislative competence as well as violation of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
