Panaji: The Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday listed for final hearing the case of the controversial Section 39A of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act, which allowed state govt to convert lakhs of square metres of land for development. The court will start the hearing from Monday.Earlier, the High Court had allowed Goa Foundation to amend its PIL challenging the constitutional validity of Section 39A despite objections from govt.The amendment seeks to invalidate individual land-use approvals and construction permissions granted under Section 39A while the PIL was pending.The amendment seeks a direction that if Section 39A is struck down or diluted, as happened with Section 17(2), final approvals and ongoing constructions granted under it should also be deemed illegal and demolished.“The primary objection of govt was that the amendment was not necessary since the interim relief granted by the court already says that all the notifications under Section 39(A) are subject to the court’s verdict,” Goa Foundation had said.The PIL challenges Section 39A, which allows govt to process individual applications for land-use zoning changes. The court’s interim order states that all approvals and notifications issued under the section will remain subject to the PIL’s final outcome.Chief minister Pramod Sawant has said govt will come out with a solution to issues surrounding Section 39A of the TCP Act.“I am running a transparent govt, and the environment ministry is with me. I listened to questions on Section 39A when they were asked on the floor of the House. There was no issue to reply. A reply should have been provided based on the facts,” Sawant had said.
