HC junks rules allowing changes to Goa green zones

The Bombay High Court invalidated rules allowing plot changes in Goa's development plan, citing unconstitutionality and prioritizing private interests over public good.

The Bombay High Court at Goa on Thursday struck down rules allowing plot-by-plot changes to Goa’s regional development plan, ruling they were arbitrary and unconstitutional.

HC junks rules allowing changes to Goa green zones

The court invalidated the Goa Town and Country Planning (Alteration/Modification in the Regional Plan for Rectification of Inconsistent/Inadvertent Zoning Proposals) Rules, 2023, while also narrowing the interpretation of their parent provision — Section 17(2) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act.

The rules were challenged by activist groups, including the Goa Foundation, who argued they violated Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution by prioritising individual plot owners over the common good.

“Almost all the conversions are from paddy fields, natural cover, no development zone and orchard to settlement zones,” the court observed. “This may be a miniscule percentage as contended by the State, but the applications are being filed, entertained and conversions granted for which there is no outer limit,” said the order by the the division bench of Justices MS Karnik and Nivedita P Mehta said.

The court noted that as of Jan 2, 2025, authorities had approved 353 applications under Section 17(2), affecting about 26.54 lakh square meters of land.

“We are satisfied that the manner in which the rules are framed and the circular issued is not in furtherance of a development in public interest by maintaining a balance between sustainable development viz-a-viz the environmental issues, but is concerned with the interest of private landowners.”

The amendment in question was introduced by Town and Country Planning minister Vishwajit Rane and passed by the Goa Legislative Assembly in March 2023. It allowed for changes to individual plots in the Regional Plan 2021 “for the purpose of rectifying any inadvertent error.”

The Regional Plan 2021, notified in 2011, defines areas open for development while protecting eco-sensitive zones marked as no-development areas.

The court ruled that the 2023 rules “confer unfettered and unguided authority on the Executive to interpret what is meant by an inadvertent error or what is an inconsistent/incoherent zoning proposal” without providing proper guidance.

While acknowledging that genuine errors could be corrected, the court found the power granted was “open-ended” and lacked necessary guardrails.

“Such plot-by-plot conversion, creating a zone within a zone, virtually has the effect of mutilating the RP prepared after such an elaborate exercise,” the court said.

The Goa government had defended the amendment as “a balancing exercise” between public interest and landowners’ rights, arguing that changes made so far affected only between 0.01% and 0.35% of total land area across nine talukas.

But the court remained unconvinced: “Keeping in mind the fragility of the ecosystem of Goa, we cannot ignore the materials placed before us demonstrating the way the power is being exercised.”

The court restricted the interpretation of “inconsistent or incoherent zoning proposals” to mean inconsistency between proposals in the Regional Plan or with the Outline Development Plan, clarifying it “would in no case imply change of zone of a land parcel having regard to its peculiar facts.”

Rane told reporters Thursday evening that the government would challenge the ruling.

“The Court has not struck down the section itself. We have time to go to the Supreme Court. We will go to the Supreme Court,” he said.

Norma Alvares, a lawyer representing the Goa Foundation, said the judgement was a victory for the people. “This is a good victory for people. Because we were opposed to the zonings which were being changed, bit by bit, spot by spot in different places, changing the entire context of the landscape of Goa and literally casting aside the RP 2021 which is still valid and holds good for the people of Goa protecting its ecology and environment while also allowing for development in certain areas,” she said.