PANJIM: Fr Bismarque Dias, Goa’s beloved activist priest, who went down fighting for Goa’s causes, would have had a reason to smile with satisfaction.
A case he filed and was fighting against, an illegal structure in the no-development zone (NDZ) was finally ordered to be brought down, eight years after he died.
The Bombay High Court has directed the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to demolish an illegal structure built in the No Development Zone (NDZ) at St Estevam, within the next three months and to file a compliance report to the Court soon thereafter.
The Court has also asked the respondents to furnish a copy of the compliance report to Adv Rohit Bras de Sa, counsel for the petitioner late Fr Bismarque.
During the hearing, the Additional Government Advocate Sapna Mordekar told the Court that the demolition order will be executed within two months from the date of the order.
The Division Bench comprising Justice Mahesh Sonak and Justice Valmiki S A Menezes also made the interim order dated September 15, 2016, ordering to seal the said structure absolute.
On September 15, 2016, the Court had asked the Goa government to seal the premises on Survey Number 233/1 of St Estevam village as two other respondents Rohidas Narvekar and Seema Narvekar challenged the action of the GCZMA before the NGT, Pune.
The NGT later dismissed their plea on October 31, 2014, with the directions to the GCZMA to demolish the said illegal structure.
Earlier the Administrator of the Comunidades, Central, had informed the GCZMA that as per the direction of the High Court, the CRZ authorities should follow the procedure established by law in respect of the structure. The Panjim Deputy Collector had ordered Tiswadi Mamlatdar to demolish the structure belonging to Narvekars, but the demolition could not take place. Again the demolition was fixed in November 2014, but the same could not be carried out.
In 2015, the petitioner had alleged that the respondent had carried out reconstruction of the illegal structure in defiance of the court order, and being aggrieved by inaction and refusal of the State authorities to take action against the illegal structure, he approached the court.