SALVADOR FERNANDES Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The subject matter of challenge in this Writ Petition is an order dtd. 2/3/2009 issued by the respondent-State while exercising power under Sec. 35 of the Goa, Daman and Diu, Land Revenue Code, 1968.

(2.) The petitioner is a Union of villagers from Sao Jose De Areal village, Salcete Taluka, which claims that the impugned order deserves to be set aside for the reason that the respondent-state could not have invoked Sec. 35 of the aforesaid Code in the facts and circumstances of the present case and that the order came to be issued only because of the heat that the respondent-state was facing due to orders passed by this Court in Writ Petition No. 20/2008, concerning rampant illegal operation of basalt stone crushers in connivance with officials of the respondent-state. According to the petitioner-union, a proper interpretation of Sec. 35 r/w other relevant provisions of the Code would indicate that an order in the nature of the impugned order could not have been issued by invoking Sec. 35 of the said Code. According to the petitioner, the said order neither pertains to land nor any class of land and therefore, it is rendered unsustainable.

(3.) The background facts leading up to filing of the present writ petition are that the residents of the said village had filed an earlier writ petition bearing Writ Petition No. 20/2008, in the context of rampant illegal operation of stone crushers leading to high levels of pollution and destruction of green cover. In the said writ petition, a Division Bench of this Court had passed various orders, including order dtd. 6/2/2008, taking note of the illegal manner in which stone crushers were operating and it was found that the situation was pathetic and shocking as regards the manner in which the said authorities were acting in the context of extraction of minor minerals in the State. In this context specific directions were given in the aforesaid order, including inspection of various sites by the officers of the concerned department to identify as to whether any illegal cutting of trees and use of stone crushers was being undertaken.