Panaji (Goa): Mr Shantaram Naik ex-MP and President of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, has expressed shock and surprise that the Union Defence Ministry does not recognise building construction rules of Goa’s municipalities and Panchayats, and that, they consider themselves free to construct anything in Goa without the permission of Local Bodies.
This was made clear to Shri Naik during his tenure as MP, by none other than the then Defence Minister of India Shri Manohar Parricar in reply to Mr Naik’s unstarred question number 2548 replied to on 16.12.2014 , for which, only answer given was “The information is being collected and will be laid on the table of the House”.
However a reply was subsequently sent to Mr Naik through Rajya Sabha Secretariat by their letter dated 10th January 2017that the reply to the question was laid on the table of Rajya Sabha on 9.12.2016 (which is after two years), according to which,, “ All Naval works fall under Item no 4 of List I- Union List of Article 246 of Constitution of India and hence, are subject to only Union of India jurisdiction . Therefore, State Panchayats and Municipalities do not have any jurisdiction upon works of Indian Navy’
Reply further says, “no permission is required from the State Govt, under Goa Panchayat Raj Act and Rules framed therein or Goa Municipalities Act and Rules framed therein for undertaking Naval works”
Subject of Mr Naik’s question was, “Construction of Residential Units on Naval Land in Goa” and, Mr Naik wanted to know about (a) the number of residential units constructed in the land occupied by the Indian Navy; (b) whether any permission for construction of these units was applied for and/obtained as required by GoaPanchayat Raj Act and Rules framed therein or Goa Municipalities Act and Rules framed therein (c) the nature of documents produced by the Naval authorities or any authority of Government of India for the purpose..” etc.
Mr Naik said inclusion of a subject in the Union List, does not imply that Indian Navy or any other Defence Wing of the Central Government is exempted from seeking permissions of State Government and Local Bodies with respect to construction permissions of Municipalities , Panchayats or NOCs of Planning and Development Authorities or Town and Country Planning, conversion sanads from Collectors under Land Revenue Code, NOCs from Health Department or permission from CRZ Authorities, as the case may be, etc.
Mr Naik said that Naval Authorities besides encroaching upon Goa’s land are now challenging the basic authority of local bodies to regulate their construction activities.
Mr Naik said that Goa Government should do an audit of Central Government’s projects and in the meantime issue notices to the concerned Central Government Authorities with respect to their construction activities undertaken in defiance of local Government and local bodies.
As the Chief Minister of Goa, he has now to come out and say whether according to him construction activities undertaken in Goa by the defence ministry, are exempted from Goa (Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction) Act 2008 and The Goa Land Development And Building Construction Regulation 2010, which are the common Regulations, both for constructions coming under Municipalities and Municipal Corporations.
