PANAJI: The Bombay High Court at Goa has appointed the Secretaries of the North and South Goa District Legal Services Authorities to ascertain the ‘on the ground' compliance of its orders with regard to garbage collection in the state as well as to collect information from local bodies whether they have complied with directions issued a decade ago.
The division bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa, which took umbrage at the fact that petitioner Aires Rodrigues had claimed that the debris that he alleged was yet to be cleared and the Merces panchayat which claimed it was cleared decided that it was best an independent authority verify the claims.
"The factual position as to whether the orders of the Court have been complied with or not, therefore, will have to be ascertained by an independent authority. We deem it appropriate that the status of compliance of the orders of this Court be ascertained by the Secretaries of the Goa State Legal Services Authority for the North Goa and South Goa Districts," the division bench of justices Nutan Sardesai and N M Jamdar said.
The High Court also took a decision to revive two petitions -- one public interest litigation petition and one suo motu writ petition -- both filed back in 2007 seeking redressal of various grievances regarding garbage to examine whether the directions issued while disposing of those petitions back in 2007 have been complied with.
"The Secretaries of the State Legal Services Authority of North Goa and South Goa will coordinate with the Secretary and the Chairman of the Taluka Legal Services Authority to collect the information as regards the compliance of the directions of this Court as regards the panchayats and municipal councils," the court directed.
The Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority and the Chairman of the Taluka Legal Services Authority will call upon the concerned chief officer or sarpanch as the case may, be to submit the information whether the respective panchayats and the local authorities have demarcated and designated sites within their jurisdiction and have evolved a working methodology to transport the waste to the facility, now stated to be provided by the State Government.
The court also fixed the responsibility of the respective sarpanch or chief officer or commissioner.
"Non-furnishing of information will be considered as contempt of the directions of this Court," the court said while allowing three weeks for the local bodies to provide this information.
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Act against errant panchayats: HC to govt
The High Court directed the State government to invoke its powers and act against panchayats that are not complying with various directions it has been issuing.
The court observed that back in 2013 and the Advocate General had made a grievance that the local bodies are not cooperating with the State Government and they are not complying
with the various directions and that a similar position continues even in the year 2017.
"The State is giving financial aid to the municipal councils and panchayats. It has control and powers to issue necessary directions. The State Government is not powerless," the HC ruled pointing that section 176 of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, gives adequate powers to the State Government to check default on the part of the panchayats in performance of their duties; Section 177 contemplates inquiry of the affairs of the panchayats and section 200 provides for the dissolution of a Panchayat if in the opinion of the Government, the Panchayat is not competent to perform its duty or makes persistent default in the performance of the duties imposed on it.
