View this post on the web at https://gerardsgazette.substack.com/p/a-circular-an-ordinance-and-an-executive
It’s been a rainy week [ https://substack.com/redirect/d43a40a2-210e-43fe-9fb4-8f7d099e218c?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] (as it should be at this time of the year), and while things are slow moving this time of the year -- especially the traffic along potholed and waterlogged stretches -- it’s never really a dull week in Goa. Welcome to yet another edition of Gerard’s Gazette, a weekly newsletter in which I attempt to break down the events of the week gone by and offer a bit of context, as well as a dose of news you may have missed and news behind the news. If this is your first time here, thank you for signing up, and I hope you stick around! Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. After getting all worked up over ‘stray’ plants of cannabis ‘accidentally’ growing along the footpaths of Panaji [ https://substack.com/redirect/1c37a53b-4740-446d-9f3b-331005419c4b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], which it turns out, isn’t even illegal [ https://substack.com/redirect/321cf114-551f-4ee4-9514-b9723a706f23?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], politicians in Goa decided that it was time they now accused each other of being drug dealers. [ https://substack.com/redirect/4b1e21d5-4aae-4f73-9fa4-fd741b73b002?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] It was first former Deputy Chief Minister Manohar “Babu” Ajgaonkar’s turn to call incumbent Pernem MLA Pravin Arlekar a peddler [ https://substack.com/redirect/bd557e7e-bc0e-4591-ade6-18f365427843?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], and the former hit back by accusing him of doing likewise. [ https://substack.com/redirect/9f47f23b-6c3a-4391-a15e-3ab3bd265236?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] That aside, the state woke up one fine morning to hear that a 17-year old college going student was attacked with a bucket full of acid being thrown at his face. [ https://substack.com/redirect/13ae93a8-6bef-4e47-84f2-d3d4931bd38f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] The culprit has since “confessed” [ https://substack.com/redirect/8e48ddb2-a5f4-49cb-9219-4bf56c32f1cb?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]that he did so to avenge the death of his daughter, who was in a relationship with the (acid attack) victim and who died allegedly as a result of their relationship going sour [ https://substack.com/redirect/a159bf8c-dde8-4ea0-9b8c-b155af1ad417?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. In the far south, the people of Loliem and Poinguinim have accused that respective comunidades of trying to sell off whatever remains of the two villages with “unholy haste” [ https://substack.com/redirect/ca0e3dda-7d06-44bb-b698-d2d12a0c2e7b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] to private commercial interests. Meanwhile, for some reason that isn’t clear yet, DLF has decided to withdraw its application for its controversial ‘Bay View’ project at Reis Magos [ https://substack.com/redirect/9adf5b74-a9d5-4e27-9520-46f74c46228d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], possibly to resubmit a different plan and in more positive news, the Bombay High Court at Goa has issued notices in a plea filed by the Goa Foundation and others challenging permissions issued to the Goa Forest Development Corporation to set up an ‘eco tourism resort’ at Surla village within the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary. [ https://substack.com/redirect/26c275f8-2be0-4f2c-a475-00247c3a1eb4?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] But what I (once again) want to talk about is the High Court’s judgement that set aside the two ODPs for the five villages of Calangute, Candolim and Arpora, Nagoa and Parra was uploaded this week. It was pronounced in the last week of June. And while I’ve written about it last week [ https://substack.com/redirect/2ca16de8-f98b-4563-a26c-603244f357b6?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], now that the order is available, things are a little more clear. So here’s a (more elaborate) attempt at understanding just what the government was up to and why the High Court’s order in stopping it means so much. A circular, an ordinance and an executive order Regular followers of this newsletter will probably be familiar with at least the basic facts of this case, but at the cost of repetition and in order to make it simple, let me very briefly recap what happened. Building rules and conventions in Goa are regulated by The Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, which mandates the drafting and notification of a Regional Plan -- a single plan for the entire state -- that envisions which lands can be built upon, which cannot and maps out an accompanying economic vision for the state. However, for urban areas, the Act has provisions to carve out ‘planning areas’ for which Outline Development Plans or ODPs as they are commonly referred to are drawn up. ODPs are zoning maps that categorize land in urban areas as either commercial, settlement (residential), recreational, services (sewage plants, market yards, etc) with a plot by plot resolution level. When an area is carved out as a planning area, its ODP supersedes the Regional Plan that was in force until then and all development permissions will be approved or rejected based on how the plot is zoned on the ODP map. The zoning in turn will determine what kind of structures can be built on the land and how tall they can be depending on the width of the access roads, etc. For property falling within planning areas, development permissions are processed by planning and development authorities (PDAs) whereas for the rest of the state approvals are processed by the department itself. Now, when an ODP is withdrawn or suspended, or the towns and villages are denotified as planning areas, the law says that the area falls back to the Regional Plan. This, in essence, is the law that the High Court in its recent judgement has upheld. It may seem simple or even obvious, but it was something that the government was stubbornly unwilling to accept [ https://substack.com/redirect/3fb6f5d4-c47c-4cf0-ac47-b35aee8bf813?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. To such a point that they first brought a circular to state that permissions would continue to be processed based on the ODPs [ https://substack.com/redirect/a9994f66-fa91-4ac5-888a-18ee15034681?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. When that was stayed by the High Court [ https://substack.com/redirect/a9994f66-fa91-4ac5-888a-18ee15034681?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], they brought an ordinance [ https://substack.com/redirect/f41fc271-59fb-4320-aec5-0eb5b646178d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] to amend the law and ‘revalidate’ the ODPs stayed by the High Court such that the ODPs would continue to be in force, and when the High Court ruled that while it couldn’t really strike down the ordinance but barred the authorities from processing permissions based on the ODPs, the government brought out an executive order under section 162 of the constitution to once again state that the ODPs would be effective. Why so much love for the ODPs? You might ask. So the five villages Calangute and Candolim and later Arpora, Nagoa and Parra were brought under ‘planning areas’ between the years 2015-17. For the purposes of simplicity let’s call these ODPs the “Michael Lobo ODPs.” They had a good run (as Michael Lobo claimed they did) [ https://substack.com/redirect/3f7c2aa6-15c6-4e3b-90a7-afd67a0919b0?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], but that run came to an end in 2022 when Vishwajit Rane took over as Town and Country Planning minister that year. Rane alleged that there were widespread illegalities, arbitrary zone changes and conversion of agricultural fields and orchards to commercial and settlement zones [ https://substack.com/redirect/d6fda20b-65bc-4029-8a6f-7d93af254eff?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], etc and that Lobo and his family personally benefited from these changes. [ https://substack.com/redirect/600fa6be-6af2-480a-9ff4-0199aa657d55?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] A committee that Rane constituted corroborated his allegations. The Michael Lobo ODPs were first suspended and ultimately scrapped. In December that same year (2022) the Town and Country Planning Department replaced the Michael Lobo ODPs with a new set of plans. Let’s call them the Vishwajit Rane ODPs. In the High Court’s order they are referred to as the December ODPs. But for the sake of equality and parity, if we’re calling one the Michael Lobo ODPs then we have to call the new ones the Vishwajit Rane ODPs. Things might have been (legally) OK, if it were to be left at that. But then in that scenario, files for the five villages would have been processed by the North Goa Planning and Development Authority, whose current chairperson is Taleigao MLA Jennifer Monserrate, the wife of Atanasio Monserrate. Our chief would ideally want to eat the whole cake himself, rather than share a part (or whole) with someone else. So what he does is, a day after the Department notifies the Vishwajit Rane ODPs, they issue an order withdrawing the five villages as ‘planning areas’ but the circular states that even though the villages are withdrawn as planning areas, files will be processed based on the Vishwajit Rane ODPs and not by the NGPDA but by the TCP Department. So that, in short, was the whole game. Replace the Michael Lobo ODPs with your own, which according to the High Court were even “more drastic” when it came to misidentifying narrow roads as broad ones (so that builders can build taller buildings), showing fields and orchards as settlement and commercial zones, etc, give yourself the power to process the files by bypassing the law, the notified authority and established practice. When the High Court stops you in your tracks you bring an ordinance [ https://substack.com/redirect/f41fc271-59fb-4320-aec5-0eb5b646178d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and when that fails you bring out an executive order. And this is where things stand now. There could be more to come given that, things are expected to reach the Supreme Court next. For now, the High Court has not only scrapped the orders that sought to ensure that the ODPs remain valid, but also all zoning certificates, permissions, etc that have been granted since they were notified are also quashed as have the plans themselves. The Governor of Goa has instituted a lecture series in honour of a former judge of the Supreme Court Justice H R Khanna who was among those who authored the famous basic structure doctrine of the constitution and was the lone judge to attempt to uphold civil liberties during Indira Gandhi’s infamous emergency. The first memorial lecture was delivered by Justice (Retd.) Abhay Oka of the Supreme Court, this week on the topic of The Independence of the Judiciary. [ https://substack.com/redirect/01251715-895e-4121-af36-dfdf3611546b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] The Honourable Governor, who was in attendance, would do well to examine the ordinances he is issuing to verify whether they are infringing upon the independence of the judiciary. The ordinance, that has since lapsed, had a clause that no suit or other proceeding shall lie or [ https://substack.com/redirect/f41fc271-59fb-4320-aec5-0eb5b646178d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] be maintained or continued in any court challenging such (ODP) approvals/certificates/ [ https://substack.com/redirect/f41fc271-59fb-4320-aec5-0eb5b646178d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] /reports. [ https://substack.com/redirect/f41fc271-59fb-4320-aec5-0eb5b646178d?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]Sure Governor’s have limited powers, but to institute a lecture series on the independence of the judiciary whilst signing off on ordinances that seek to curtail the same? The prodigal son This week was eventful from the political side of things. I say that in particular because Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made two visits to Delhi this past week. For the first, he took Calangute MLA Michael Lobo along and for the second he took incumbent Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar along. But more than anything he visits were to send a deliberate signal about what’s to happen next. While Lobo and Sawant met Amit Shah [ https://substack.com/redirect/fa350bc1-d056-4d19-bde4-abfcd1172c18?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] among others during their visit in the first half of the week, Tawadkar and Sawant met Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav. [ https://substack.com/redirect/97d88f75-f9ca-41ef-b518-9a086403ccb2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] The meetings, their timing and the way they were publicized all point to one thing -- that there’s going to be a cabinet expansion shortly -- the timing of which is yet to be finalised -- possibly after the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, which ends in the first week of August. Michael Lobo is expected to be inducted and will take the place of the ailing Aleixo Sequeira while Ramesh Tawadkar will take the place of Govind Gaude [ https://substack.com/redirect/21d82ec5-44ad-43c9-850d-64e31d147737?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], who was already dropped. There could be more, but that’s not finalised. But the person you really got to feel for is Nilesh Cabral. He was dropped to make way for Aleixo Sequeira, who was the only one of the eight to be rewarded for switching sides and now when Sequeira is being dropped, Cabral’s name is not in the conversation. Instead the post is (expected to) go to Michael Lobo, who left the party, joined the Congress and has since returned to the BJP. I don’t know if ‘ironic’ is the right word, but it was Nilesh Cabral, who more than anyone else, was trying to convince Lobo not to quit the BJP back in 2022. But here lies Cabral. He was PWD minister before he was asked to make way. Now he’s an MLA and if insider accounts are to be believed, he is on weak political footing. His constituency is in a mess, the roads are all dug up [ https://substack.com/redirect/90481a39-4116-4945-a12c-7b9a23a7f171?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], garbage is piling up and social media is having a field day. To top it all, there’s talk that he won’t even get the BJP ticket come 2027. Several others, most notably Rohan Gauns Dessai, the secretary of the Goa Cricket Association and the Joint Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India are vying for the ticket. No doubt, 2027 is still some time away, but surely Cabral must be feeling hard done by the party he has so vigorously defended over the years. As for Tawadkar, it’s an obvious move to replace one ‘tribal’ (Govind Gaude) with another (much like they replaced Cabral (a Cristão) with another Cristão (Sequeira). That’s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say. I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter. You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here. As always, please share and help spread the word. Until next week, then. Tchau! Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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