Get two more yrs to regularise illegal structures

Panaji: Govt introduced an amendment to the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016, on Monday, providing a new two-year window for individuals to apply for regularisation of unauthorised constructions.

The amendment also covers cases where unauthorised constructions of houses have been carried out on land belonging to comunidade or govt. The land should already have been regularised by the officer authorised in the case of comunidade land and the deputy collector in the case of govt land.

The built-up area limits are being revised to permit regularisation up to 500 sqm in panchayat areas and up to 600 sqm in areas under municipal councils or the Corporation of the City of Panaji.

The Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016 (Goa Act 20 of 2016) was enacted to provide a one-time opportunity for the regularisation of certain unauthorised constructions built before Feb 28, 2014.

However, during the implementation of the act, a number of applications were rejected on technical grounds. Additionally, many applicants were in occupation of lands granted by govt or comunidade, but could not avail the benefit of regularisation due to a lack of tenure regularity at the time of application.

“In view of these gaps and to give effect to the assurance made by the chief minister in the Budget speech 2025-26, it is proposed to amend the said act to broaden the scope of regularisation and provide limited corrective and remedial powers to the authorised officer,” the cabinet said.

The amendment further enables regularisation in cases where constructions were carried out in exclusive possession by one co-owner or family member, even in the absence of written consent from others. Such regularisation will remain subject to the outcome of any judicial proceedings.

To ensure procedural justice and correct obvious errors, a new section is proposed to empower the authorised officer to review orders passed under the act, either suo moto or on application. Such reviews will be subject to prior permission of the collector and if an appeal has been filed.