PANAJI: The government introduced an amendment to the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016, on Monday, offering a new two-year timeframe for individuals to apply for the regularisation of unauthorised constructions.
This amendment includes cases where unauthorised house constructions have occurred on land owned by comunidade or the government. Such land must have already been regularised by the authorized officer in case of comunidade land, and by the deputy collector for government land.
The built-up area limits are revised to allow regularisation up to 500 sqm in panchayat areas and up to 600 sqm in municipal council or Corporation of the City of Panaji areas.
The original Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016 (Goa Act 20 of 2016) was enacted to provide a one-time regularisation opportunity for certain unauthorised constructions built before February 28, 2014.
However, numerous applications were rejected during the implementation of the act on technical grounds. Additionally, many applicants who occupied lands granted by the government or comunidade were unable to benefit from regularisation due to a lack of tenure regularity at the time of their applications.
“Recognizing these gaps and to fulfill the chief minister’s assurance in the Budget speech for 2025-26, it is proposed to amend the act to expand the scope of regularisation and grant limited corrective and remedial powers to the authorized officer,” stated the cabinet.
The amendment also allows for regularisation in instances where constructions were done in exclusive possession by one co-owner or family member, even without written consent from others. This regularisation will be contingent on the outcomes of any ongoing judicial proceedings.
To ensure procedural fairness and rectify obvious errors, a new section is proposed to empower the authorized officer to review orders made under the act, either on their own or upon application. Such reviews will require prior approval from the collector if an appeal has been filed.
