Panaji: The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court today refused to grant ad-interim relief to petitioners seeking a stay on the holding of the upcoming Defence Expo scheduled between March 28-31 in the coastal state.
A division bench comprising Justice F M Reis and K L Wadane after hearing the petition filed by two Goa residents rejected their plea for ad-interim relief in the matter.
The petitioners — Freddy Fernandes and Irene Lourenco– are members of Orixtt Projeacho Avaz (OPA) which is opposing hosting of Defence Expo at Betul-Naqueri in South Goa and they had filed their plea in the high court seeking stay of the event.
They had contended that they were not aware of the risk and hazard involved in the hosting of Defence Expo. They had also said that the Defence Ministry had refused to give them the detailed project report citing security concerns.
Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni, representing the state, argued that the work on Defence Expo’s infrastructure creation had begun in January. “The protestors were also given a power point presentation about the project on February 25,” he contended. Advocate Ryan Menezes, appearing for the petitioners, told the court that the event should be stayed as people were not aware of the details of the expo and that they were not taken into confidence.
Defence Expo is expected to witness the presence of 48 countries and more than 1,000 delegates. The case would be heard next Wednesday by the division bench.
