PANAJI
The State government has issued a notification directing the Revenue officials to dispose off the pending Mundkar and Tenancy cases within one year. The District Collectors are also tasked with submitting monthly reports to the government.
The notification by the Department of Revenue comes nearly a fortnight after the Pramod Sawant-led Cabinet asked quasi-judicial officers -- mamlatdars and joint-mamlatdars -- to expedite the proceedings to dispose off in a year.
“It is observed that there is large scale pendency of revenue cases under various Acts, especially, The Goa, Daman & Diu Mundkar (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975 and Goa, Daman & Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964… Rule 10(14) of the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Rules, 1965 mandates that “the Mamlatdar shall dispose off the application within period of one year from the date of service of notice to the other party,” it says.
The issue of pendency and poor disposal of revenue court cases was raised by the Members of Goa Legislative Assembly in the monsoon session of the Assembly Session 2022 during the discussion on Demands for Grants for the year 2022-23.
The Minister for Revenue Atanasio Monserrate had thereafter assured the House that all steps to ensure speedy disposal of these cases will be taken up in a time-bound manner and that a robust monitoring mechanism at the level of both Collectors and Government will be established.
The notification further directs the Revenue Court to not grant more than three adjournments in any particular case till its final disposal while the next date of hearing fixed should not ordinarily be exceeding 10 days.
Likewise, both Collectors are instructed to designate special Mamlatdar to exclusively deal with the Revenue Court matters and ensure that hearings in these cases should mandatorily happen once the date is fixed.
Among other sets of instructions also include Mamlatdars to hold revenue courts on Saturday to ensure timely disposal of the cases; Mundkar and Tenancy cases pending for more than three years to be taken up for hearing on day to day basis and disposed of at the earliest; Collectors should regularly review the performance and disposal of cases and submit reports to Government on the performance of every revenue officer every month, etc.
