New Delhi, Sep 2 The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea of an NGO challenging the construction of Acqua Eden, a high-density luxury residential project proposed on the steeply sloping hills of Sancoale in Goa.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for petitioner NGO Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA), and issued notices to the Goa government and others including M/s Parmesh Constructions Company Ltd.
The petition, filed through Advocate-on-Record Rashmi Nandakumar, seeks to overturn a Bombay High Court order that dismissed challenges against the project.
"The petition has been filed challenging the legality and validity of the Development Permission dated February 02, 2024 granted by the Mormugao Planning and Development Authority (MPDA), the Construction Licence dated March 11, 2024 granted by the Village Panchayat of Sancoale, and the subsequent permission dated June 03, 2025 granted under Section 17-A of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act in favour of Respondent No. 5 (M/s Parmesh Constructions Company Ltd ) in respect of the project titled 'Acqua Eden', proposed on property bearing … Village Sancoale, Goa," the plea said.
"The project is a large-scale high-density luxury residential development proposed over land admeasuring approximately 35,050 sq metres, comprising a sanctioned built-up area of approximately 85,886.06 sq metres, consisting of multiple residential villas, 685 private swimming pools and parking facilities for more than 800 vehicles, proposed to be constructed on ecologically sensitive hilly terrain situated within the jurisdiction of the Village Panchayat of Sancoale," it said.
The NGO alleged that the project is a "textbook example" of regulatory bypass, claiming it was pushed through via a "colorable exercise of power" and "manipulated technical data".
The core of the legal challenge rests on the topography of the site and under the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulations, 2010, development is strictly prohibited on gradients exceeding 25 per cent (no development slopes).
The petition said that the state authorities used a "flawed and unrecognised" methodology of "averaging the slope" of the entire property to bring it under the 25 per cent threshold.
"By adopting an average slope, areas that are statutorily non-developable become artificially concealed by flatter portions of the property," the petition states, and adds that this renders the environmental protections "substantially nugatory".
The petition raised several "substantial questions of law", including the issue of alleged lack of environmental clearance (EC).
The project exceeds the 20,000 sqm threshold, yet the NGO claims permissions were granted before a mandatory EC was obtained, treating environmental safety as a "future formality". The plea sought an interim stay against the impugned high court judgment.
