Saturday, November 3, 2018

North Goa Collector directed to look into land filling cases -oHeraldo

Team Herald

MARGAO: The High Court of Bombay in Goa has directed the Collector of North Goa to look into the land filling cases mentioned by Kashinath Shetye in view of the recent amendment to Section 33 of the Land Revenue Code.
The amendment says any low lying area, khazan land, land under Coastal Regulation Zone, water body or environmentally/ecologically sensitive area which has been illegally filled with mud or rubble, the Collector is empowered to restore the land immediately without issuing any notices. The Collector is also empowered under the amendment to recover the cost of the restoration from the owner of the land. 
The High Court noted that the Collector has ample powers under the recent provision.
The Writ petition (No 39 of 2018) was filed by Kashinath Shetye and others against the Government of Goa in view of their pending cases of illegal land filling in the State. According to Shetye, many khazan lands and low lying fields have been converted once they have been illegally filled. He informed Herald that he has filed this petition to ensure that all the khazan lands that were illegally filled will be restored in order to serve its purpose of protecting the farmlands and settlement areas against floods.
Earlier Land Revenue Code had no powers for restoration and the only option people had was to file a complaint of illegal land conversion. The other option was to complain to the Town and Country Planning Department under Section 17 A of the TCP Act. However, the complainants were at the mercy of the TCP officials since only the TCP Department had the powers to file an FIR against the culprits. Besides the abysmal rate of convictions, the lack of any provision in the TCP Act for restoration meant that the owners of the land could start constructing on the land even before the case was dropped.
The recent amendment to the LRC came as a sigh of relief. However, activists had to approach the courts in order to get the officials to implement the law and immediately restore all the agricultural fields which have been illegally filled.
https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/North-Goa-Collector-directed-to-look-into-land-filling-cases/138375.html

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