HC stays demolitions near Goa turtle-nesting sites

Panaji, May 6 (IANS) The Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday stayed the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority's (GCZMA) order to demolish 171 temporary structures built in the no-development zones at beaches, which are home to turtle-nesting sites.

In his order, Justice P.D. Naik also issued notices to the state chief secretary and other government functionaries to be responded by June 10.

"The order seeks to demolish the structures. It is submitted that no show cause notice was issued to the parties, nor any hearing was conducted by the authorities, which amounts to violation of the principles of natural justice," the high court stated, while granting "interim protection" to the petitioner, the All Goa Private Property Shack/Hut Owners Association.

The coastal authority last week had ordered demolition of 171 structures on Mandrem, Morjim, Agonda and Galgibaga beaches, home to nesting sites of the protected Olive Ridley turtles.

Green activists have several times expressed concerns about mushrooming constructions in the no-development zones along the coastal belt, which they claimed were coming up in the vicinity of turtle-nesting sites.

The authority had directed collectors of the South and North Goa districts to carry out demolitions, days after the National Green Tribunal bench in Pune on May 1 had fined the GCZMA Rs 1 crore for failure to comply with the judicial authority's direction to submit a compliance report on number of construction violations in the coastal regulation zones.