The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has struck down Section 17(2) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, ruling that it served private landowners' interests rather than public welfare. This section, introduced in March 2023, allowed authorities to rectify zoning inconsistencies, but petitioners argued it was being misused to convert land for commercial purposes. 

A division bench comprising Justices Nivedita P. Mehta and M. S. Karnik ruled that the provision undermined sustainable development and environmental concerns. The court noted that between March 2023 and January 2025, 353 approvals were granted under Section 17(2), impacting 2.654 million square meters. Most conversions involved shifting land use from paddy fields, natural cover, and no-development zones to settlement zones. 

The PIL, filed by Goa Foundation, Khazan Society of Goa, and Goa Bachao Abhiyan in June 2023, challenged the constitutional validity of the provision, arguing that it granted arbitrary powers to alter zoning regulations based on private requests. The court held that such plot-by-plot conversions were effectively mutilating the Regional Plan, which serves as Goa's long-term land-use blueprint. 

(The Hindu)