the goan I network
PANAJI
An application before the court of a mamlatdar by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant claiming mundkarial rights for land in Bicholim has raised serious questions, social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues said on Wednesday.
Rodrigues said Sawant filed the application before the mamlatdar at Bicholim on September 26 this year and is seeking a declaration as mundkar for a plot of land bearing Survey No 60/8 in Cotombi, Bicholim, under Section 8A of the Goa Mundkar Act 1975.
He alleged misuse of official position to institute the quasi-judicial proceedings before the mamlatdar, adding that three hearings have already swiftly taken place over the last three months. Goa, he said, has 2,717 similar mundkarial cases pending in the courts of 43 mamlatdars and joint mamlatdars.
This apart, there are an additional 509 such mundkarial cases pending in the courts of 11 sub-divisional magistrates (deputy collectors). Some of these cases are appeals against orders issued by Executive Magistrates (mamlatdars).
Most of the cases are pending under Section 16 (1) and Section 8 (A) of the Goa Daman and Diu Mundkars (Protection from Eviction Act, 1975) for the last several years. Both the sections require that a mundkar or tenant should apply before mamlatdar for purchase and to claim other rights.
Interestingly, the State government had during the tenure of the late Manohar Parrikar had amended the Mundkar Act and inserted a ‘sunset clause’ to limit by time filing of mundkarial rights cases. Following a political uproar against the move, the government had subsequently in 2015 withdrawn the controversial Sunset Clause from the Goa Agricultural Tenancy (amendment) Act 2014 and Goa Mundkars (Protection and Eviction) (amendment) Act, 2014.
