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4. Levin Da Costa, partner of respondent No. 11 filed an application for permission to fell trees from Survey No. 69/4 and Range Forest Officer recommended the said application. The Deputy Conservator of Forests, North Goa Division (Tree Officer) refused to grant permission to cut the trees vide Orders dated 14-11 -96 and 25-11 -96 under section 8 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984. However, the Conservator of Forests who is the Appellate Authority in the matter granted permission to fell 32 trees out of 51 trees originally applied for felling vide Order dated 9-1-97. On the same day i.e. 9-1-97 itself written permission to fell 32 trees was granted. In pursuance of the said permission respondent No. 11 is said to have carried out the felling of trees. The number of trees which were felled according to the petitioners was round about 200 and not 32 for which permission had been granted. On 20th January, 1997, Town Planner sent letter (Exh. 03 Colly.) to the Sarpanch, Village Panchayat, Penha de Franca that development permission had been granted subject to the condition that natural cover/ landscape formed by trees as seen from river Mandovi shall not be disturbed in any fashion while carrying out the development/construction and that the developer has cut down the greenery and put up temporary structures which disturbs the landscape/natural cover and, as such, the development has prima facie violated the said condition. The Town Planner accordingly asked the Sarpanch, Village Panchayat, Penha de Franca to immediately stop the on going activity of plot No. 69/4 and , if necessary, revoke the licence. The matter was examined by the Government. The Sarpanch, Village Panchayat, Penha de Franca informed Levin de Costa, partner of respondent No. 11 of the same and directed him to stop the activities going on in the plot till the matter was examined by the Government. Likewise, the Deputy Collector and S.D.O. Mapusa-Sub-Division who had issued the conversion sanad in respect of Survey No. 69/4 informed respondent No. 8 vide letter dated 30th January, 1997 (Exh. 02 Colly.) that on inspection held on 29-1-97 large scale illegal felling of trees had taken place and since the sanad dated 8-1-96 had expired on 7-1-97 and no development had been carried out in Survey No. 69/4 within the validity of the sanad, respondent No. 8 was directed to refrain from carrying out any developmental or construction activity. Copy of the same was sent to Levin da Costa, partner of respondent No. 11. The request for extension of sanad was rejected by the Deputy Collector and S.D.O. Mapusa vide letter dated 4th February, 1997, (Exh. 02 Colly.). The Chief Town Planner informed the Sarpanch, Village Panchayat, Penha de Franca that the Government had examined the matter and after careful examination of the terrain, conditions of slope analysis vis a vis earlier approved layout plan, it has been decided that building blocks located along the average line of 35-36 contours on the southernmost side of the property should be cancelled at this stage; similarly proposed access road from Betim/ Alto Porvorim road should be cancelled and the access to the property should be taken from the northern side of the property; accordingly the development permission issued earlier for the two rows of building blocks of D/G and A and D/G and B are withdrawn as indicated in red in the enclosed layout plan and the area with green hatching should be treated as "No Construction Zone". Accordingly, the Sarpanch, Village Panchayat, Penda de Franca was directed to issue revised licence and a special condition had to be put that landscape should be undertaken on the southern side of the properly facing Mandovi river. It is interesting to note that besides sending copies of these directions to Conservator of Forests, Panaji, Goa, Town Planner, North Goa District Office, Mapusa, Levin da Costa, a copy for information was sent to the Special Secretary to the Hon'ble the Chief Minister, Secretariat, Panaji, Goa.

35. Besides, the findings of the Sawant Committee in its report dated 22-4-98 which we accept, it is also to be noted the terms and conditions of the licence and sanad have been violated. The contention of respondents No. 9 and 11 is that they have not violated any terms or conditions of the licence is totally wrong. As per letter dated 19-11-96 (Exh.G Colly. on record at page 39a) from the Town Planner to the Village Panchayat, Penha de Franca, an additional condition was imposed in the licence namely: "natural cover/landscape formed by trees as seen from river Mandovi shall not be disturbed in any fashion while carrying out the development/construction". The Village Panchayat vide letter dated 21-11-96 (Exh. G-2 Colly. at page 39-b) had informed of the said condition to Shri Anand Bhandiye, licence holder, C/o Levin Da Costa. This additional condition has been totally violated and the Town Planner vide letter dated 20th January, 1997 (Exh. 03 Colly. at page 168e) had informed the Sarpanch, Village Panchayat, Penha de Franca that the development has prima facie violated the said additional condition as the developer has cut down the greenery and put up temporary structures which disturb the landscape/natural cover. The Sarpanch, Village Panchayat of Penha de Franca vide letter dated 30th January, 1997 (Exh. 03 Colly. at page 168f) informed Levin Da Costa about it and also that the access road from the existing road is taken cutting the land by 7 to 8 metres height from road level which disturbs the gradient and may also cause landslide. The Village Panchayat directed to stop the ongoing activity in the plot till the matter was examined by the Government. The Deputy Collector and S.D.O., Mapusa vide letter dated 30th January, 1997 (Exh. O2 Colly. at page 168a) informed Manohar Bhandiye that the sanad dated 18-1-96 had expired on 7-1-97 and since no development had been carried out in the property within the validity period of the sanad, he was directed to refrain from carrying out any development or construction activity. Copy of the same was sent to Levin Da Costa. By subsequent letter dated 4th February, 1997 (Exh. O2 Colly. at page 168b) the Deputy Collector and S.D.O., Mapusa informed Manohar Bhandiye through attorney Levin Da Costa that the request for extension of sanad could not be agreed to as no reasons have been mentioned as to why development of land could not be undertaken during the validity of the sanad. Still later on 25-3-97 vide letter (Exh. O2 Colly. at page 168c) the Deputy Collector and S.D.O., Mapusa informed that the matter had been referred to the Government and no further development should be undertaken in Survey No. 69/4. Ultimately, the Chief Town Planner vide letter dated 7-5-97 (Exh. P-1 Colly. at page 229) informed Sarpanch, Village Panchayat that the matter had been carefully examined and the building blocks located along the average line of 35-36 contours on the southernmost side of the property should be cancelled as well as the proposed access road from the existing Betim-Alto Porvorim road should be cancelled and access to the property should be taken from the northern side of the property. The development permission issued earlier for the two rows of building blocks of D/G and A and D/G and B are withdrawn as indicated in red in the enclosed layout plan and the area with green hatching should be treated as "no construction" Zone. Revised licence was accordingly ordered to be issued with a special condition that landscaping should be undertaken on the southern side of the property facing the Mandovi river. This letter states that the matter has been carefully examined which means that earlier the matter was superficially examined. The fact that special condition was sought to be put in the revised licence that the landscaping should be undertaken on the southern side of the property facing Mandovi river clearly establishes that the additional condition imposed in pursuance of letter of Town Planner dated 19-11-96 (Exh. G-2 Colly. at page 39a) and letter dated 21-11-96 of the Village Panchayat (Exh. G-2 Colly. at page 39b) had been violated. It is not understood as to how the Conservator of Forests could grant permission for cutting of the trees vide order dated 9-1-97 which would have the effect of clearly violating the said additional condition, imposed wide letter dated 21-11-96 of the Village Panchayat. Rather than taking action for violation of the said additional condition by removal of natural cover/landscape formed by trees as seen from river Mandovi which was directed not to be disturbed in any fashion while carrying out the development/construction, the Chief Town Planner/Government chose to condone the same by adding special condition to put back the landscape. A copy of this letter was marked to Special Secretary to Hon'ble Chief Minister, Panaji, Goa. We have already pointed out that the cutting of the trees in Survey No. 69/4 for the purpose of non-forest use was done without prior approval of the Central Government. In fact, as we have already pointed out, the planning authority did not bother to go into the classification of the land inspite of directions dated 27-9-91 issued by the Forest Department which are at Exh. P-1 at page 181 of the record. The forest species trees in Survey No. 69/ 4 are indicative of forest and at any rate it is not indicative of any orchard under which the planning authority has classified Survey No. 69/4 in A-1 and A-2 Zones. The approach of the planning authority in the matter appears to be rather very casual. It may also be pointed out that even though the planning authority had changed the use from A-1 and A-2 to S-2 Settlement Zone, the Deputy Collector and S.D.O., Mapusa had issued sanad in respect of Survey No. 69/4 for the purpose of residential/commercial. We have already pointed out that for commercial there is separate zoning namely C-1, C-2 and C-3.