the goan I network
MARGAO
Litigants in South Goa continue to waste time and money as the promised mechanism to intimate them well in advance on the adjournment of quasi-judicial cases in the revenue courts is still not put in place.
Thursday saw many litigants who had come to the court of the deputy Collector, Margao Ajay Gaude for hearing on partition cases as well as land conversion cases, go back home disappointed and dejected.
Reason: While the litigants and their lawyers came prepared for the cases, a notice put up on the notice board stated that the matters scheduled for hearing on Thursday evening before the court stood adjourned as the Presiding Officer had to attend an election meeting in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in view of the Zilla Panchayat polls.
While the litigants returned home disappointed after wasting their time in court and spending money on the lawyers, the episode once again brought to the fore the failure of the authorities to put a system in place to intimate the litigants well in advance on the adjournment of the quasi judicial matters.
During her last visit to the South Goa district Collectorate, Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate had disclosed plans to work out a mechanism wherein intimation in advance is given to the litigants if the Presiding Officer is pre-occupied with any other election or Magisterial duties.
In fact, litigants from Salcete have been demanding for quite some time with the district authorities to come out with a system wherein they are told well in advance that the cases are all adjourned for want of the presiding officer.
Social activist and Convenor of Goa Panchayat Raj Institutions, J Santano Rodrigues said it’s not uncommon to find quasi-judicial cases being adjourned in the revenue courts housed in the district Collectorate building. This should stop immediately and one way to provide relief to the litigants is to intimate them well in advance about the adjournment of cases, he added.
Rodrigues cited instances wherein litigants engage the best lawyers from the city and even from Panjim to defend their interests before the quasi-judicial courts. “Just imagine when the lawyers represent their clients in the court and the presiding officers play truant for whatever reason,” Santano said.
Sources in the know say that given that the Zilla Panchayat elections are now scheduled in mid-March this year, the government should put a mechanism in place to issue prior intimation to the litigants on the adjournment of matters since the deputy collectors as well as the Mamlatdars, who assist in the election process will be preoccupied with election duties.
