The Bombay High Court has called for responses from authorities regarding a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by former task force member Dean D’Cruz, challenging the conversion of land at Pomburpa from private forest status to settlement area.

D’Cruz, an architect, has contested the land conversion sanad, technical clearance, building license, and the conversion process itself. Although the Pomburpa land was initially notified as a private forest in the official gazette, the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department, two months later, declared that it was not part of a private forest and changed the zoning to a settlement area, D’Cruz claimed.

The court found merit in D’Cruz’s argument and has asked for affidavits in response within three weeks from the TCP and Forest Departments, the Pomburpa panchayat, the North Goa collector, and the Tiswadi mamlatdar.

D’Cruz argued that the land was listed as a private forest in the September 2022 gazette, but the forest department disregarded this notification, issuing a conflicting report to the Additional Collector III of North Goa. This report cleared the land of private forest zoning, which led to the issuance of the conversion sanad.

The issue was raised in August when the Pomburpa-Olaulim panchayat informed the Chief Conservator of Forests that the report issued on November 16, 2022, was invalid due to the land's designation as a private forest in the gazette. D’Cruz pointed out that the Chief Conservator had yet to clarify the matter.

Following the report from the Chief Conservator and other officials, the collector issued the conversion sanad, and the TCP Department granted technical clearance for development. D’Cruz further noted that the TCP Department had issued the building license on November 30, 2022, before the conversion sanad was officially issued on December 9, 2022.

(ET)