the goan I network
MARGAO
Mass adjournments of matters in the revenue courts in the office of Salcete mamlatdar was the order of the day on Monday as all the five presiding officers, including the taluka mamlatdar John Fernandes, were in Old Goa for the mandatory election training.
Several criminal cases scheduled for hearing before the Deputy Collector Margao Uday Prabhudesai were also adjourned on Monday morning as the presiding officer had to rush to Panaji in connection with the election work.
And, today’s adjournment of cases before the mamlatdar and the joint mamlatdars is just the beginning since these officers, not just from Salcete, but from across the state, are required to undergo mandatory election training on at least four more days later this month.
The scene at the offices of the mamlatdar and the four joint mamlatdars, once again brought to the fore the absence of a mechanism to provide advance intimation on the adjournment of hearings on revenue matters in view of the preoccupation of the presiding officers.
When The Goan team visited the Matanhy Saldanha Administrative Complex on Monday noon, it came across a number of litigants, including women, glued to the notice boards outside the court rooms of the mamlatdar and the joint mamlatdars anxious to find out the fate of their cases and the next date of hearing. Women litigants were seen seated in the court room as the staff present were only giving the dates for the next date of hearings.
“We don’t blame the presiding officers for the adjournment of the cases if they had no option, but the government should set in place a system wherein the litigants and their lawyers are intimated in advances on the adjournments,” remarked a woman litigant. Another litigant pointed out that it’s easy for the presiding officers to adjourn the matters at the stroke of a pen citing election duties and administrative work, but the fact remains that adjournment of matters causes lot of hardships and inconveniences to the litigants as they come from remote Salcete. “Since our lawyers turn up for the hearings on time, and since they are not to be blamed for the adjournments of matters, we have to pay the legal fees of the lawyers,” the litigant added. Sub-divisional Magistrate and Deputy Collector Margao Uday Prabhudesai informed that his office had to adjourn the criminal cases fixed for hearing on Monday morning since he was busy in Panaji concerning election work. He, however, said that cases listed for hearing before him in the evening would be heard as per scheduled.
The Margao Deputy Collector’s office was in the news recently after the mass adjournments of revenue matters as he had to rush to Panaji to attend election work.
