JUDGMENT

1. The present appeal has been preferred against the decision taken at „Item No. 2.1‟ in 279th Meeting of Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA)/Respondent No. 1 held on 10/12/2021 and 14/12/2021 and the supporting Corrigendum dated 21/12/2021 issued by the Respondent No. 1. 2. In brief facts of the case are that the Appellant who is owner of the Survey No. 119/3-A of Village Morjim, Pernem, Goa, which is a beachfront property abutting the Morjim Beach, noticed sand excavation with the use of mechanical excavators and earthmovers being undertaken in the government land for the construction of permanent structure. On further inquiry, he discovered that the excavation was being undertaken by the Respondent No. 5/BIPS Systems Ltd. under the instructions of Respondent No. 2 for execution of National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-II. Thereafter, the Appellant filed a complaint before the Respondent No. 1/Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority, pointing out the serious violation of CRZ Regulations which would have disastrous consequences, as the said activity was not permissible under NDZ area, the same being extremely eco-sensitive zone and requested the Respondent No. 1 to issue Stop Work Order to safeguard the natural sand dune from further degradation. A similar complaint dated 24/11/2021 was made by him to the Village Panchayat of Morjim/Respondent No. 4 but no action was taken by the concerned authorities, hence, the Appellant approached the Hon‟ble High Court of Bombay at Goa on 25/11/2021 and filed Writ Petition No.408/2021 wherein vide Order dated 26/11/2021, Respondents were directed to produce the permissions, if any. The Respondent No. 2 placed before the Hon‟ble High Court during hearing:

“ (i). Tourism NOC dated 12/06/2018;

(ii). CRZ Clearance dated 22/02/2019;

(iii). TCP NOC dated 06/05/2019;

(iv). Health NOC dated 14/06/2019 and

(v). Construction License dated 31/07/2019.”

3. Appellant submitted that it was incumbent upon the Respondent No. 1 to conduct a site inspection prior to granting CRZ Clearance which would indicate that the construction was permitted in an ecologically sensitive area on account of existence of sand dunes. The CRZ Clearance does not mention any site inspection. In view of the CRZ Clearance and NOCs produced, the Appellant deemed it fit to withdraw the Writ Petition No. 408/2021 with a liberty to initiate appropriate proceedings and has annexed copy of the final order dated 27/11/2021 passed in the said Writ Petition. Thereafter once again, the Appellant approached the Hon‟ble High Court of Bombay at Goa by filing Writ Petition No. 2493/2021 assailing the CRZ Clearance dated 22/02/2019, TCP NOC dated 06/05/2019 and Construction License dated 31/07/2019 issued in favour of Respondent No. 2 and upon consideration, the Hon‟ble High Court was pleased to direct the Respondents to stop any further work until pendency of the Petition, however, the same was not recorded in the Order. The Hon‟ble High Court has passed the following Order dated 18.01.2022 which is reproduced herein below for the sake of convenience:-

“By this petition, the petitioner has prayed for quashing and setting aside of CRZ clearance dated 22.2.2019 and No Objection Certificate issued by Town and Country Planning Department dated 6.5.2019, as also the construction licence dated 31.7.2O19 issued in favour of respondent no.2 i.e the Assistant Engineer, Water Resources Department for construction of a weather radar. The allegation of the petitioner is that the same violates CRZ notification, inasmuch as it is sought to be constructed in sand dunes in CRZ-I.

2. This is opposed by the respondent no.2 and the clearances and the construction licence are sought to be justified.

3. During the pendency of this Writ Petition, it was informed that the respondent no.3- the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority(GCZMA) had already conducted an inspection and that report was awaited.

4. We are not informed that meeting of the GCZMA post th