Case relates to leasing of 70 sq mtrs of land to set up a kiosk
PANAJI
On Monday, the Bombay High Court at Goa quashed the decision of the Pilerne Comunidade to allocate a 70 sq mtrs plot to an applicant for setting up a kiosk, as well as set aside the decision of the Administrator of Comunidades to uphold it.
In its ruling, the High Court stated that the managing committee of the Comunidade cannot “lease out its property, bypassing the various substantive and procedural provisions in the Code of Comunidade or bypassing the requirement of obtaining Government approval for leasing out the Comunidade property, and that too without any auction.”
A resident of Pilerne along the CHOGM road had complained that the Comunidade had given a plot that was supposed to be an open space for setting up a kiosk “on a permanent lease basis”. The decision of the managing community was later ratified by the General Body of the Comunidade.
“The Managing Committee has no such powers to allot or ratify the allotment of Comunidade property on a permanent lease basis without complying with substantive and procedural provisions and, moreover, obtaining the approval of the Government. The General Body’s resolution dated 22.04.2018 also seeks to ratify the Managing Committee’s action. This resolution is also ultra vires because even the General Body of the Comunidade cannot allot Comunidade property on a permanent lease basis, bypassing the substantive and procedural requirements of the Code and, moreover, without the approval of the Government,” the High Court said.
“If the allotment of 70 sq mtrs of Comunidade land is approved despite the clear breach of the provisions of the Code, then there is nothing to prevent the Managing Committees or even the General Bodies of the Comunidades in the State from frittering away the Comunidade properties without any regard to concerns of transparency or without acquiring the best possible price for the Comunidade properties, which are ancient institutions,” the High Court also said.
