MARGAO
A group of citizens, including lawyer Adv. Prakash Dessai and former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes, on Wednesday strongly criticised the functioning of the South Goa Collectorate, accusing officials of misusing legal procedures and undermining justice under political pressure.
Their criticism followed a delay of nearly 12 years in a case involving alleged illegal construction.
Addressing the media, Adv. Dessai, who represents the aggrieved family, alleged procedural misconduct by a revenue officer in the
Collectorate.
He claimed that the officer had bowed to political pressure and unlawfully delayed the case despite directions from the High Court to dispose of it, allegedly to favour a local politician from Quepem.
Dessai questioned the integrity of the officials involved, saying the matter involved a clear conflict of interest.
“How can an officer who earlier decided this tenancy case as a Mamlatdar hear the same matter again as an Additional Collector? Despite being informed about this conflict and being asked to recuse himself, he continues to hear the case. Is this not a clear violation of judicial discipline?”
he asked.
Dessai said the prolonged delay had caused severe mental and financial hardship to his clients, who have been pursuing the matter for almost
12 years.
Supporting the family’s stand, social activist Elvis Gomes criticised the poor functioning of the district administration.
“The South Goa Collectorate building may be one of the biggest in the country, but while the hardware is impressive, the software – its administration – has become deeply corrupted. It is time for the District Collector to run an antivirus programme and clean up the system. People complain that mutation and partition cases remain pending for months without even a notice being issued,” Gomes said.
Former Cuncolim Municipal Chairperson Landry Mascarenhas was also present at the briefing.
