GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO
The old year has given way to a new one, but for the litigants before the revenue courts in down South, they have nothing to cheer about as the functioning in these quasi-judicial courts have not changed for the better in the new year.
And, despite assurances handed out by Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte last year to streamline the revenue courts, the new year does not seem to hold any promise for the litigants.
Otherwise, consider this. It was 3 pm on Wednesday when around 23 litigants in mundcarial appeal and revision cases along with their lawyers turned up in the court of the Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Officer, Margao, only to find a notice displayed on the notice board adjourning the cases listed out for hearing for the day. What further surprised the litigants and the lawyers was the fact that the cases have been adjourned on the ground that the Presiding Officer Uday Prabhudesai is busy with additional charge at Hospicio hospital. Left with no option, the litigants and their lawyers had to return home disappointed after collecting the new date of hearing, not sure whether the case will come up for hearing at the next date.
This isn’t the first time that the deputy Collector’s court has adjourned the cases because of the preoccupation of the presiding officer with his additional charge at Hospicio. A litigant told The Goan that a scheduled hearing of mundcarial cases was adjourned last year on the plea that the presiding officer was busy with law and order situation at the Cutbona jetty.
Litigants cried foul over the sudden adjournments of the scheduled cases by the SDO’s court. A litigant told The Goan that he reached the court of the deputy Collector 15 minutes before the case could come up for hearing, only to find a notice displayed on the board outside that the hearing is adjourned. “This is totally unacceptable. The system should change. If the presiding officer is busy with his additional charge at the Hospicio, the SDO’s staff ought to have communicated the adjournment of the hearing to the litigants and lawyers in advance that would have saved them their time as well as money,” the litigant remarked. He added: “The litigants would have been saved of the inconveniences had the government come out with a system wherein the litigants are intimated in advance regarding adjournments which arises due to the preoccupation of the presiding officer.”
The litigants were also sore over the long date given by the Deputy Collector’s office after adjourning the matter. “If the hearings have been adjourned by the presiding officer because of his additional charge, he should have given a short date so that the adjournment does not result in causing delay in disposing off the case,” he added.
During Revenue Minister, Rohan Khaunte’s interaction with members of the South Goa Advocates Association on October 1 last, city-based lawyers had called for transparency in the revenue courts in order to improve and streamline the functioning of the quasi-judicial courts. In fact, senior lawyers had suggested that the presiding officers of the revenue courts should not hold charge of any additional department and the government should appoint dedicated officers only to look after law and order situations and discharge magisterial duties and responsibilities.
Khaunte seeks report from Collector
on adjournment of cases
MARGAO: Taking strong cognizance of the last minute adjournment of mundcarial hearings by the office of Deputy Collector, Margao, Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte has sought a report from the District Collector, South on the adjournment of cases on Wednesday.
That’s not all. The Revenue Minister was apparently not convinced how the presiding officer gave a long date of one-month to the litigants after leaving them inconvenienced by the sudden adjournments.
“I have asked for a report from the district Collector on the adjournment of cases by the presiding officer on ground that he is busy with his additional charge. What I am concerned about is the fact that the presiding officer has given a long date to the litigants. I feel that the presiding officer ought to have given a short date,” Khaunte told The Goan, while saying that his department is presently working to put a system in place.
