Panaji: The Bombay high court quashed and set aside an order of the secretary, urban development, dated April 23, 2025, which set aside a demolition order of the chief officer (CO) of the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) for a building in a ruinous condition in the heart of Vasco.Justice Valmiki Menezes directed the CO to ensure that all occupants vacate the one-storey structure, ‘Shridhar Building’, cordon it off, which consists of over 20 commercial establishments, and ensure that it is demolished within eight weeks, as the building, if it continued to exist, posed imminent danger to life.The high court rejected the plea of those running businesses in the building seeking six weeks to vacate. “I considered these submissions, and rejected the same in the light of the specific observations made by Goa Engineering College in its report dated Jan 9, 2026, where it opined that there is every likelihood that the structure might suffer sudden failure, which would cause an extensive threat to life, and would also endanger the lives of the occupants of the building and pedestrians in the vicinity. On this count, no further extended time shall be granted to the occupants to vacate the structure,” the court stated.The HC found that there was no valid reason for the secretary of urban development to interfere in the order of the CO of MMC and held that the CO’s demolition order of Jan 18, 2024 satisfied all requirements of Section 190 of the Act. It also observed that Goa Engineering College rendered a comprehensive opinion in its report dated Jan 9, 2026, which unequivocally recommended that the building be demolished.
