Raze structures in Arpora fields: HC to panchayat

Panaji: In a public interest litigation concerning illegal filling of paddy fields at Arpora-Nagoa, Bombay high court has directed the deputy collector to proceed with the demolition of illegal structures.The HC directed the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat to submit a compliance report within four weeks after the demolition squad is provided.The division bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar sought answers from the deputy collector as to why the demolition squad was not provided.This was after the panchayat told the court that a demolition squad was requisitioned from the deputy collector/demolition squad, Bardez, and several reminders were sent to the demolition squad.

The panchayat told the court that in respect of eight structures, it dropped show cause notices against them after the panchayat conducted a site inspection and perused documents placed before it.In the case of six other cases of land-filling, the high court directed the secretary of the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat to assist the deputy collector in verifying whether the structures have been issued show cause notices.

The HC in April 2024 asked the panchayat to explain why around 40 show cause notices alleging illegal land-filling and construction, issued in 2023 and a few in 2024, were not disposed of and explain why demolition orders were not executed till date.At the time, the HC also directed the panchayat to submit a timeline within which the demolition orders would be executed.