The Bombay High Court recently disposed of the two connected Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed challenging the Outline Development Plan for Calangute-Candolim-2025 under Notification dated 28.11.2021.
Pranay Kamat, counsel for the petitioner in one of the PILs, placed on record a Notification dated 27.04.2022 which records that the Outline Development Plan for Calangute-Candolim Planning area-2015 has been suspended. Further, a Committee has been appointed to review and examine in detail the impugned Outline Development Plan.
Kamat pointed out that based on the Notification of 27.04.2022, even the District Court, which is the Appellate Authority, has disposed of several appeals by directing the Committee to consider the appeals as objections. Such parties have also been given the liberty to institute fresh appeals in case they are dissatisfied with the ultimate decisions that the Government may take in the matter.
According to the Goa Division Bench of Justice M.S. Sonak and Justice R.N. Laddha there is no point in keeping these two petitions pending any longer given the subsequent development in the form of Notification dated 27.04.2022.
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“The petitioners can be granted liberty to raise all their objections before the Committee and, if, ultimately, the Committee or the State Government do not uphold their objections, the petitioners can always be granted liberty to take such steps as are permissible under the law to challenge such decisions”
-the Court observed.
Therefore, by granting the petitioners liberty as aforesaid, the High Court disposed of these petitions.