Road project: HC nixes Margao man’s plea against acquisition of his land

Panaji: The high court has dismissed a petition filed by a Margao resident challenging the acquisition of his land at Sirvodem, Margao, for the rehabilitation of hutments to fix the missing link of the ring road in Margao.The HC said that the acquisition proceedings were completed by state govt and that the man objected to the acquisition of his land at the final stage of the proceedings.The division bench, comprising justices Bharati Dangre and Nivedita Mehta, said that the acquisition of the land for the public purpose of fixing the missing link of the ring road is a matter of policy and not of law.It said state govt is the authority that must carry out the plan for which the land was acquired and govt is in the best position to judge which land can be exempted from acquisition.The court held that it cannot exercise the power of writ under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.The petitioner stated that he couldn’t file objections under the Land Acquisition Act as he was out of India during the relevant time. In the meantime, the land acquisition officer conducted an inquiry and inspection and found that hutments were coming up on the proposed ring road site.Hence, the acquisition was proposed for rehabilitating the hutments that had existed for many years.The petitioner stated that if his residential house was acquired, it would deprive him of his permanent place of residence in Goa. He stated that hutment dwellers could easily be accommodated on lands belonging to govt of Goa, such as in Margao (Sonsoddo), Davorlim, and Verna near the industrial estate, many of which are barren and uninhabited.He also told the court that there is a plot at Loutolim measuring 5,000sqm, which was acquired by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation and allotted to govt of Goa, for the implementation of a housing scheme.This plot can be utilised for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers who illegally reside on the land reserved for dealing with the missing link of the road, he said. He requested that his property be dropped from the proposed acquisition proceedings.