The High Court of Bombay at Goa recently directed the St Jose de Areal panchayat to comply with the order of the Additional Director of Panchayats and issue a construction licence to Shaikh Muktar.

Muktar had filed an application before the panchayat for a construction licence on 13 February, 2017 which was rejected a month later. Muktar approached the additional director of panchayats, South Goa which directed the panchayat to issue the licence. However, this order was not complied with.

When the matter came up in High Court the panchayat said the licence could not be issued as villagers had objected to the construction. The court however, directed the panchayat to issue the licence with the conditions prescribed by the additional director of panchayats.

Asserting that the panchayat could not refuse to issue the licence, the judgement delivered on 11 March added, “The grievances of the villagers if any, would be taken care of by the said conditions.”