PANAJI
The Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) on Wednesday sought to withdraw its petition over the unauthorised installation of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue on its property at Headland-Sada, citing the State government’s assurance that it would purchase the land and pay the necessary compensation.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa, however, refused to permit the withdrawal, questioning whether the proposed purchase of the land by the government could resolve the larger issue of alleged encroachment and the subsequent inaction by the authorities.
During the previous hearing on August 20, the government was given less than a week to identify an alternative site for relocating the statue.
In an affidavit filed before the court on Wednesday, the MPA said the State government had communicated its decision to purchase the encroached land and pay compensation. The proposal, it said, had subsequently been forwarded to the concerned Ministry and would require Cabinet approval in view of guidelines issued in May 2026.
The Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Amit Jamsandekar, while raising several unanswered questions, also sought to know why an FIR had not been registered over the alleged criminal trespass. “These are not matters of sentiments, we are concerned with an offence,” the Bench observed.
The Bench also questioned the use of public money when those responsible for constructing the statue had still not been identified. “Who are ‘Shiv Premis’? Police could not identify them till today, and the State is spending money for unknown people,” the court observed.
The court further cautioned that allowing the MPA to withdraw the petition could set a “bad precedent” by signalling that encroachments on public or private land could later be regularised through government purchase if authorities failed to act at the outset.
The matter has been posted for hearing on October 5.
