SYSTEM WAKES UP: The facsimile of Form I and XIV showing the name of Joao Caetano Perpetuo Pinto as the sole owner, issued within 48 hours of this newspaper highlighting the octogenarian’s long-pending mutation case.
MAPUSA
The oft-quoted phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword” found renewed meaning this week, as an 80-year-old senior citizen finally secured a long-pending land mutation – within just 48 hours of The Goan highlighting his plight.
Barely two days after The Goan ran a report on Monday detailing the decade-long struggle of octogenarian Joao Caetano Perpetuo Pinto, the Bardez Mamlatdar’s court completed the mutation of his property, bringing an end to an ordeal that should never have existed in the first place.
The Mamlatdar’s court has now deleted the predecessor-in-title from the occupants’ column of Form I and XIV, officially recognising Pinto as the sole owner of the small 72-square-metre plot at Pomburpa.
The mutation, pending for nearly ten years, involved no dispute, no objections and no competing claims.
For the past ten years, Pinto had been shuttling between counters at the Mamlatdar’s office in Mapusa, repeatedly climbing staircases and navigating procedural hurdles in pursuit of a basic revenue entry.
The case laid bare a troubling reality: administrative apathy and systemic inertia can be as cruel as outright denial of justice, especially for senior citizens.
What failed to move for a decade was resolved in under 48 hours once public attention was drawn to the issue.
Officials processed the mutation swiftly after the report was published in The Goan, raising uncomfortable questions about accountability and responsiveness within the revenue administration.
While the outcome brings relief to Pinto and his family, it also underscores a deeper malaise in governance.
How many more citizens – particularly the elderly – continue to suffer silently due to routine delays in revenue offices? How many rightful owners are denied access to loans, development permissions or peace of mind because basic records are not updated?
This case is not merely about one senior citizen’s victory. It is a damning commentary on a system that reacts faster to headlines than to human hardship.
