New Delhi: A division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, summarily dismissed a fresh Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Goa government against the Bombay High Court’s order dated January 23, 2025. The High Court had directed a restraint on any construction in the Outline Development Plan (ODP) areas of Calangute, Candolim, Arpora, Nagoa, and Parra.
Justice Sharma, addressing the counsel representing Goa, remarked, “Please don’t turn Goa into a concrete jungle.”
The High Court’s order followed a detailed hearing by a bench comprising Justice M.S. Karnik and Justice Nivedita P. Mehta. The state government had moved the Supreme Court with its SLP on January 20, 2025.
The original PIL, filed by the Goa Foundation against illegalities in the two ODPs (Calangute-Candolim 2018 and Arpora, Nagoa, Parra 2020), has been shifting between the High Court and Supreme Court for over a year. The state government has been defending the ODPs to allow their execution. However, with the High Court listing the PIL for final hearing on February 21, 2025, this legal back-and-forth is expected to end.
The state government had suspended the two ODPs on emergency grounds in April 2022 and later appointed a Review Committee, which found large-scale rezoning of plots benefiting private parties while bypassing due procedures. Despite accepting the committee’s findings, the government renotified the ODPs in December 2022, retaining several controversial zone changes. The petition further alleged that zoning changes were made to several new survey numbers during the renotification process.
Subsequently, the government withdrew all five villages as planning areas, effectively dismantling the ODPs. However, on December 22, 2022, it issued a circular to keep the ODPs operational. The High Court stayed the circular, prompting the government to issue an ordinance to sustain the disputed ODPs. In response, the Goa Foundation again approached the High Court, which stayed the operation of the ODPs on May 2, 2024.
The state government challenged this decision in the Supreme Court in May 2024. While the apex court stayed the High Court’s order, it ruled that any construction under the ODPs would be subject to the final outcome of the writ petition. It also prohibited any changes in the five ODP villages until the petition was resolved.
In December 2024, the Goa Foundation discovered that the TCP department was granting construction permissions in the five ODP villages. It filed an application in the High Court, seeking restraint. The High Court upheld the request on January 23, 2025, reaffirming that no changes would be permitted in these villages.
The state government then filed another SLP against the January 23 order, but the Supreme Court, after a brief hearing, summarily dismissed it on February 6, 2025.
