PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa declined to grant interim relief to the Margao Municipal Council in a writ petition filed by it challenging the government notification authorizing the Madgaon Shigmotsav Samiti headed by former BJP MLA Damu Naik to organize Shigmo in Margao.
The matter will now be heard in June in a bid to streamline the process of allotting the Shigmo committees in case such disputes arise in the future. “The High Court has declined to grant them any interim relief,” Tourism Director Sanjeev Gauns Desai informed.
Desai, however, failed to explain on what basis the Tourism Department allotted Shigmo to the panel headed by former BJP Fatorda legislator Damodar Naik and not to the current Margao Municipal Council. “It has been allotted because the last time too he had organised it,” Desai said.
The writ petition challenging the government notification has been filed by Margao Municipal Council Chairperson Babita Angle, MMC appointed Organising Committee President, Vasant Shirodkar and general secretary Godekar. In their petition, the trio informed the High Court on how the government had initially asked the MMC to constitute the committees to organize the shigmo parade in the city and how it has now authorized Damu Naik’s Margao Shigmotsav Samiti to do so. Director Desai said that there were several attempts to bring the two committees together including mediation by the Tourism Department, the Advocate General, but an agreement could not be reached.
“Each group wanted to head the committee,” he said. The official committee is eligible for grants up to `10 lakhs from the government for hosting the Shigmo celebration both for organising as well as for prizes.
