Find depth of filling of Gandaulim land: HC

Panaji: The Bombay high court has directed a fresh inspection by the town and country planning (TCP) department of a low-lying tenanted paddy field at Gandaulim to ascertain the depth of land-filling here.

The order comes months after the official concerned in the TCP department failed to inspect the depth of the filling at the site.

The HC fixed the inspection date for April 21 and sought a report in the matter to be placed before it on April 28. The HC said excavation, if required, shall be carried out to ascertain the depth of the land-filling.

The flying squad on Dec 3, 2025, had suggested that the depth of the paddy field filled is prima facie 1.5m.

Based on the inspection report, the deputy collector South-II issued a show cause notice-cum-stop-work order on Dec 4 last year, directing the land fillers to stop work of filling at the site.

However, the overseer in the TCP department inspected the site and recorded that the mud-filling in the paddy field has been spread and levelled over a stretch of 11m in length and 5m in width, but he did not record the depth to which the land-filling was being carried out.

Based on the observations of the overseer, the deputy collector South II withdrew the show cause notice on Dec 18, 2025.

“There is no report of the overseer in the office of the TCP department, Margao, placed before us at least suggesting the depth to which filling has been done at the site,” observed the division bench comprising judges Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar.

“The report of the flying squad under deputy collector South II specifically records that filling has been done to a depth of 1.5m. These observations prima facie suggest that the filling of the paddy field, which is admittedly a tenanted paddy field, is in contravention of the provisions of Section 17A of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, which prohibits filling of low-lying lands to a depth of more than 50cm,” the bench further stated and observed that this necessitates a fresh inspection by the TCP.

Noting the developments to date, the HC directed the TCP authorities to depute any official to the site, other than the overseer, for the inspection of survey number 10/2 of Gandaulim village to ascertain the depth of the land-filling.

The court directed the administrator of comunidades, south zone, to inquire into circumstances under which the tenant got a tenancy declaration against the comunidade of Colva under which he claims title to the subject land.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.