PANAJI
A Goa Forward Party delegation met Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai on Saturday and requested him not to grant assent to the bills passed in the just concluded assembly session.
In a memorandum submitted to the governor, the Goa Forward delegation led by party supremo Vijai Sardesai stated that the bills had been passed in haste and violated the democratic process in the Legislative Assembly without following legal and legislative norms.
“We are constrained to bring to your notice the high-handed manner in which the State government has sought to in a mischievous way pass, approve and now seek your assent for 11 bills that were tabled in the House on Friday, which was done in an utmost hurry, obviously with oblique motives.”
The Goa Forward claimed that the government had intentions to have the bills “passed and assented too by giving a complete go-by to democracy and the well-established norms of a democratic process whereby the bills are to be laid for consideration of the opposition party, seek objections, carry out amendments, and thereafter only once all stakeholders have been consulted and considered can the same be forwarded for final assent.”
The memorandum further stated that the bills had been tabled in such utmost hurry and alleged that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant attempted to have the bills passed without a chance to the opposition MLAs to consider them, in effect excluding any chance of a debate on the contents of the bills, be it the legality, the propriety, the constitutionality and otherwise the cause and effect of the same.
…Objects to Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill
PANAJI: The Goa Forward Party has raised specific objections to the Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, 2021, claiming that it ignores provisions of Goan laws, comunidade laws and other relevant laws. “The Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill on the face of it smacks of mala fides and the intended provisions are apart from being unconstitutional, the same would amount to giving a premium on illegalities and perpetuate further illegalities,” stated the memorandum.
The memorandum added that the declaration under this proposed Bill would make encroachments by slum dwellers for more than 30 years legal and declare him ‘bhumiputra’ (son of the soil) as well as owner of 250 square metres of land.
“More so, a further perusal of the contents therein reveals that this declaration cannot be challenged in any court of law. The Bill completely ignores the provisions of the Goan laws in the least. Furthermore, the Act completely ignores comunidade laws and such other relevant laws,” the memorandum added.
