Panaji: The Bombay high court on Wednesday said that all approvals for additional FAR and height granted by TCP will be subject to the outcome of petitions before it.While granting these approvals, the TCP board should incorporate a clause stating that such applications will be granted subject to the outcome of the petitions, the court said.The HC has fixed June 15 for final hearings in the petitions challenging the Aug 2023 amendment to the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations granting additional FAR and height.The state told the high court that 255 applications for additional FAR and height are pending.The HC is hearing PILs challenging Section 5(1) of the Goa (Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction) Act, 2008, amended by the Amendment Act of 2022.The amendment empowers the steering committee notified under the Act to amend the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations, 2010, without pre-publication or public consultation in some cases, thus arbitrarily abrogating the public’s right to be heard, contrary to established procedure under the act and constitutional principles of transparency and participatory governance.The petition also challenges the validity of Regulation 6.1.1(a) (Note 2) of the GLDBCR 2010, stating that it fatally damages regulations and the Regional Plan in force.Goa Foundation in its petition has stated that the amendment permits random and ad hoc plot-specific increases in FAR and height, amounting to de facto zone changes, without any statutory process, public notice, or corresponding infrastructure assessments.It told the court that between 2023 and Jan 2025, the TCP has granted 739 approvals for additional FAR and height.Till this petition was filed, these momentous relaxations were granted without charge as largesse.Goa Foundation has stated that the relaxations violate the zoning prescriptions of the Goa Regional Plan 2021 and result in arbitrary and unregulated development, incompatible with ecological sustainability and infrastructural capacity.The amendment bypasses the mandatory statutory procedures for zoning changes, subverts the framework of planned development under the TCP Act, 1974, and the Building Regulations, and violates the petitioners’ fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, Goa Foundation has stated.The petition also challenges the powers of the scrutiny committee and the town and country planning board to make recommendations, adding that these powers are opaque, arbitrary, unchannelised and ultra vires the parent statute.
