The Bombay High Court at Goa has issued a significant directive to the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Board, ordering that all current and future building permissions involving enhanced Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and height relaxations must be explicitly flagged as subject to the outcome of an ongoing legal challenge.
The order, delivered by a division bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit S. Jamsandekar, comes amid a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the NGO Goa Foundation. The petition challenges the August 2023 amendments to Regulation 6.1.1 of the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations, 2010, which permit increased construction density.
The High Court noted that 255 applications for enhanced FAR are currently pending before the Board. To ensure transparency and prevent future legal complications, the bench directed the TCP Board to inform every applicant—past and future—about the pending petition.
If the Board chooses to grant permissions while the case is ongoing, the court mandated that:
- Every approval order must clearly state it is subject to the final outcome of the PIL.
- A copy of the High Court’s order must be appended to every approval granted under the amended regulation.
- Applicants cannot “claim any equity” or legal protection based on these permissions, as the validity of the law itself is under scrutiny.
While the court imposed these strict notification requirements, it declined to grant the immediate stay requested by the Goa Foundation. The petitioners had sought to halt all new construction, occupancy certificates, and completion certificates linked to the enhanced FAR and height relaxations, arguing the 2023 amendment is ultra vires (beyond the legal powers) of the parent law.
The NGO urged the court to restrict any construction that exceeds the limits set out in the state’s Regional Plan or Outline Development Plan. However, the bench observed that granting such a stay at this stage would effectively mean suspending the legislation before a full hearing could take place. The court noted that “granting such interim relief would effectively amount to granting the final relief,” especially since other affected parties have yet to be heard.
FAR is a critical metric in Goa’s urban planning, defining the maximum permissible built-up area relative to the size of the plot. The August 2023 amendment significantly relaxed these curbs, leading to concerns from environmentalists and civil society groups regarding construction density and the potential overriding of existing land-use plans.
The High Court has now scheduled the matter for a final hearing on June 15, which will determine the long-term validity of the state’s amended building rules.
