Panaji: Accusing the town and country planning (TCP) department of misusing the legislative process to help real estate developers, retired chief justice of the Allahabad high court Justice Ferdino Rebello called for an FIR and vigilance inquiry into questionable zone change approvals in 119 applications.Documents obtained through RTI by activist Swapnesh Sherlekar and shared by Rebello show that the vigilance department conducted an inquiry following the Bombay HC’s directions. The preliminary inquiry report dated April 25, 2025, shows that out of 119 applications, 11 files were randomly picked for scrutiny, and in each of the 11 files, procedural violations were found.“Immediate action should be taken to lodge an FIR based on this report, and the vigilance department should be asked to check and give their comments on all the other 108 files. No action was taken till date. This demonstrates the collusion of everybody in the TCP department and, for that matter, govt itself,” said Rebello.Rebello said that the Goa Restrictions on Transfer of Agricultural Lands Act, 2023, was used to facilitate the conversion of tenanted paddy fields for construction of high rises and farm houses. He said that new laws are being introduced to bypass existing legal safeguards.“The mischief by legislative amendments post 2023 to allow conversion of paddy fields and other agricultural lands for the sole benefit of land developers and consequent quid pro quo,” said Rebello at a press conference.Rebello, who is spearheading a people’s movement ‘Enough is Enough’, wrote a fresh letter to chief minister Pramod Sawant with new demands from activists, environmentalists and legal experts. The demands include amendment of Section 17(2) of the TCP Act and its rules to reflect the judgment of the HC, scrapping of Section 39A of the TCP Act with retrospective effect, and amendment of Section 17A of the TCP Act to prevent hill cutting.
