HC quashes 5,231-day delay condonation in razing case

Panaji: The Bombay high court quashed an order of the additional director of panchayats which condoned a delay of 5,231 days in challenging a 2011 demolition notice of a structure on Calangute sand dunes, and directed it to decide the application afresh.

The high court observed that the additional director of panchayats did not provide any cogent reasons to condone the delay of 5,231 days and only mechanically reproduced the contents. The order suffered from clear non-application of mind, the high court stated, directing the authority to consider the application for condonation of delay afresh after hearing all parties and to pass an order preferably within four weeks.

“There is absolutely no discussion, reasoning or logical progression of how the additional director has arrived at the conclusion in the impugned order. The finding, being perfunctory and devoid of any cogent reasoning, results in manifest injustice to the petitioner, Sylvester D'Souza. In fact, the impugned order also does not do any justice to the contentions of the respondent No 4, Joseph Sylvester da Rosa, and hence, viewed from any angle, is perverse and ought to be interfered with by this court,” stated Justice Ashish S Chavan.

Sylvester, the petitioner, complained to the panchayat against illegal construction involving the cutting of sand dunes in Calangute, following which an inspection was held that found 16 structures to be illegal. The panchayat issued a demolition order in 2011 for the structure, giving the party 7 days to demolish the structures. After he failed to do so, Sylvester approached the high court, which directed the panchayat to execute its order, and also directed the block development officer, Mapusa, to render assistance.

In May 2025, Joseph filed an appeal against the demolition order, along with an application for condonation of delay, before the additional director of panchayats, which was allowed.