PANAJI: The high court of Bombay at Goa has granted the North Goa Planning and Development Authority ( NGPDA ) one month to file its reply in a public interest litigation challenging the draft outline development plan (ODP) for Calangute and Candolim.Damiao Telles and eight others had alleged in the PIL that the NGPDA had acted in a non-transparent manner by not issuing a notification in the official gazette to indicate that the plan had been finalised. The NGPDA had first notified the draft plan for Calangute, Candolim and Baga on November 23, 2016, for suggestions and objections. A 60-day period had been allowed for citizens’ comments, but the process of accepting suggestions and objections had fizzled out after dates of the 2017 state assembly elections were announced.The high court had issued a notice to the NGPDA in October 2017, after the petition was filed.When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, a division bench comprising Justice N M Jamdar and Justice Prithviraj K Chavan recalled that it had already granted leave to the government on two occasions to file a reply, but none had been filed.“On April 25, we had specifically stated that since we are giving longer time till today (June 13), reply/affidavit to be filed by way of last chance,” the judges said.While providing another chance to the planning authority, the bench admitted the matter and fixed the hearing for July 16.

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