‘Not in furtherance…of public interest’: High Court reads down change in Goa’s land use law

Section 17(2), which was introduced through an amendment to the TCP Act and notified in March 2023, allows the conversion of privately owned plots in Goa’s Regional Plan 2021, based on individual applications from such parties to “correct inadvertent errors” or “rectify inconsistent or incoherent zoning”.

The Indian Express had reported in September 2024 that two state ministers, politicians cutting across party lines and several real estate companies in Goa are alleged beneficiaries of the change in land use under section 17(2) of TCP Act. According to the investigation, the TCP department approved a change in land use for at least 20 lakh square metres of land from March 2023 to August 2024, converting “green zones” into “settlements” – allowing construction activity for both residential and commercial purposes, pushing up the land’s value manifold.

On Thursday, a division bench of Justices Nivedita P Mehta and M S Karnik said in an order, “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 land owners.”

The court said that according to the state, as of January 2, 2025, there have been 353 approvals under section 17(2), which affects an area of about 26,54,286 square metres. “This may be a miniscule percentage as contended by…learned senior advocate appearing for the state, but the applications are being filed, entertained and conversions granted for which there is no outer limit. Almost all the conversions are from paddy fields, natural cover, no development zone and orchards to settlement zones. Such plot-by-plot conversion, creating a zone within a zone, virtually has the effect of mutilating the RP [regional plan] prepared after such an elaborate exercise,” the court said.

In June 2023, the Goa Foundation, the Khazan Society of Goa and Goa Bachao Abhiyan filed a PIL in the High Court for an order to quash and set aside section 17(2) of the TCP Act, challenging the constitutional validity of the provision. The petitioners submitted that the section vested “arbitrary, uncanalised and untrammelled powers” in the government to effect changes in the zoning of plots within the statutory Regional Plan 2021 on the basis of individual requests from private parties claiming to be victims of errors in the planning. The petitioners also challenged the Goa Town and Country Planning Rules, 2023, on the grounds that they are violative of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution. Three more petitions filed by activist groups were clubbed with the petition.

The court rejected the plea of petitioners to declare section 17(2) unconstitutional. The court said neither section 17(2) nor the Rules provide any guidance on how the executive should entertain the applications for correcting inconsistent/incoherent zoning proposals. “Section 17(2) only mentions inadvertent error without specifying as to what that inadvertent error is. 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. The power is open-ended,” the court said.

“Whereas under the TCP Act for a revision of a regional plan or in the newly inserted provision viz section 39A [of TCP Act], in respect of a change of zone, the public opinion has to be taken into consideration, but for exercising powers under Section 17(2) there is no provision for inviting public objections or calling for public comments,” the court said.

The court said it cannot be forgotten that a change of zone directly has an effect on planned development and “that too in respect of an ecosystem which is as fragile as Goa”.

“The environmental concerns in a region like Goa which has 54.06% (188,59,43,700 m2) of Eco zone-1 and 26.29% (116,34,42,300 m2) of Eco zone-2 will have to far outweigh the interest of private owners…The whole purpose of planned development is to ensure that the planning is not haphazardly done. The regional plan [RP] for Goa is prepared bearing in mind the fragile ecosystem in Goa. The RP is…a holistic document, which keeps in mind the aspirations of the people and overall, it is in the public interest,” the court said.