PANAJI
The government led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant may have retreated following the uproar against the Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill but the legislation passed amid a boycott by the Congress-led Opposition on July 29 was put through the rudimentary legislative technicality of being published in the Goa gazette for "general information" of the public.
Legislature Secretary, Namrata Ulman, said the bill is being published to fulfill the requirement of rule 138 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
This and a repeat publication of the legislation once assented to by the Governor are the essential requirements for any bill passed by a legislature to become law.
The legislation proposes a mechanism to give land/dwelling house 'ownership rights' to the dweller to the extent of a maximum of 250 square meters.
It raised fears that the political establishment was playing 'vote-bank' politics and favouring the large number of migrants to give them status and identity.
The Goan identity issue is a sensitive subject and politically potent in an election year. The uproar against the proposed legislation witnessed in the State forced Sawant to retreat and announce that the process of making it a law will be held back and suggestions from the public invited to rectify it.
However, since the bill had already been passed by the legislature and is the property of the House, the legal and technical processes will need to be followed through even if the government intends to tweak it and incorporate the changes suggested by the public at the next session of the House which has been summoned on October 18 and 19.
The publication of the bill in the official gazette by UIman on October 7 is a step in this context.
Currently officials of the revenue and law departments are conducting an exercise of scrutinizing scores of objections and suggestions on the bill which have come in from the public which the government (Cabinet) then can consider for a final decision on incorporating these changes in the law through amendments.
Recently, Chief Minister, Pramod Sawant had said the Bill had not been sent for governor’s assent yet and the process of collecting suggestions on the bill from public was still on.
“So far we have received 150 suggestions and the process is still on. The government will take appropriate decision on the bill after going through all the suggestions,” Sawant had said.
The Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill which was steamrolled in the monsoon session of the State assembly caused a huge upheaval much to the embarrassment of the ruling BJP-led government in the State.
Sawant was forced to clarify that the government would rename the bill and bring it back in the assembly after inviting suggestions from the people of Goa.
