Digital Goa, Jan 15 – Advocate General Devidas Pangam said this evening that here was no legal impediment to the Unity Mall project, asserting that recent observations by the District Court were only on technical grounds and not on the merits of the case. He clarified that the court had merely pointed out that the permission for construction should have been granted by the Deputy Director instead of the BDO. Pangam said the District Court had not held the structure or the construction illegal, nor had it questioned the legality of the project. “The district court has clearly stated that the government can approach the appropriate authority, obtain the required permission and proceed with the construction. It is only a technical glitch and nothing on merits,” he said, adding that all permissions were in accordance with law.
Maintaining that the Unity Mall is an “absolutely legal” and national level project, AG said it cannot be stalled. He said the government has the option of either challenging the order or directly complying with it by obtaining fresh permission from the designated authority and restarting the project. He asserted that the site does not fall in an eco-sensitive zone, nor within a wetland or its buffer zone, citing a letter from the Wetland Authority to support the claim. He added that similar arguments were raised earlier before the High Court, which did not entertain the petition, and noted that attempts to secure a stay on the project had failed twice. Pangam also stated that while everyone has the right to protest, there is no legal obstacle to the project.
