HC orders GCZMA to demolish illegal structures in Merseyside

Panjim: The Bombay High Court in Goa on Friday directed the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to proceed to demolish illegal structures constructed within the mangrove area in Mersis and within the 50 meter mangrove buffer under the CRZ Notification 2011 . ,

A division bench of Justice Mahesh Sonak and Justice Valmiki SA Menezes also rejected the appeals of the two petitioners for interim relief, which had approached the Supreme Court, after it observed that they were openly violating the law and carrying out commercial activities. Illegal construction was being used for the purpose, which was causing harm to the environment. And mangroves.

Johnny Fernandes and Shine Fernandes, two petitioners from Wadi-Merces, had filed a writ petition praying for a stay on the demolition order issued by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) in August last year, alleging that the GCZMA Some facts were deliberately hidden. The petition alleged and passed the demolition order without disclosing the facts which the petitioners claimed to be in their favour.

The appeal filed by the petitioners before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) was dismissed in September last year, while the Supreme Court had also dismissed a civil appeal in November last year, thereby upholding the GCZMA directions.

The court said, “A perusal of the plan as well as the aerial photographs will leave no doubt in our mind that the property in question clearly falls within the mangrove area and the prescribed setback from the mangroves along the perimeter of the property. The respondent GCZMA had made this observation in its order dated March 7, 2022, which received finality before the Supreme Court of India when the civil appeal of the petitioners was dismissed on November 7, 2022.