THE ONE THAT ALMOST GOT AWAY by Claude Alvares

How an illegal hotel built on sand dunes nearly escaped High Court demolition orders, reveals CLAUDE ALVARES

Our panchayats and their leaders have now become part of an all-Goa scenario of complete non-governance accompanied by acts of brazen manipulation and corruption. Nothing illustrates this better than the ‘Case of the Illegal Resort’ in Colva, put up by Snowkon Gonsalves, a former Sarpanch.

Fun at Colva

The attempt to hoodwink both the authorities and the High Court was even more blatant. That the High Court finally caught up with it is another matter. By its order dated 10 August 2010, the High Court has directed the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) to remain present when the illegal resort is demolished. This time the High Court, as a matter of abundant caution, has demanded that a compliance report be placed before it after the demolition is complete.

In March this year, the Colva Consumer and Civic Forum got in touch with the Goa Foundation with a strange request. The Forum informed the Foundation that the GCZMA had granted approval for regularisation of a resort of nine rooms plus wall and well, which had been ordered demolished by a High Court order of 2 March 2000! Not only were the buildings, wall and well regularised, the Town Planning and Panchayat authorities had also granted approvals for the same set of buildings in 2009. The matter appeared worth investigating.

Piedade Gonsalves, mother of Snowkon Gonsalves, had been directed to demolish an illegal building (constructed on sand dunes in the 200 metre no-development zone in 1993-94) after the High Court had heard two writ petitions. The first, filed by Felix Serrao, a person directly affected by the construction, sought the Court’s directions to the Sarpanch of Colva Panchayat to carry out orders for demolition issued to it by the Goa State Committee on Coastal Environment (GSCCE). The GSCCE had, upon inquiry, declared the constructions illegal and in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.

The second petition was filed by Piedade Gonsalves herself. In her petition, she sought a stay on the demolition order issued by the Panchayat, and directions for regularisation of the impugned constructions. She claimed they were legal and beyond 200 metres of the high tide line (HTL). The High Court found against her and, on 2 March 2000, ordered the Panchayat to take necessary action against the construction. The Court also directed that Felix Serrao’s legal costs be reimbursed by Piedade Gonsalves.

Ms Gonsalves appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court heard the appeal and dismissed it on 11 March 2004. In normal course, that would have been the end of the matter. The Panchayat would have to start the process of demolition and obey the High Court’s directions without any further ado. However, in October 2003, six months before the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, Snowkon Gonsalves – son of Piedade Gonsalves – became the Sarpanch of Colva. He would remain Sarpanch till January 2007 and Administrator till May 2007.

The first step was to get the Felix Serrao’s widow to write a letter to the Panchayat, in 2006, that the buildings on the affected survey number were, in fact, demolished and she therefore had no further grievance in the matter.