Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar boasted of his ability to draft laws that can stand the test of judicial scrutiny and cannot be easily challenged.
PANAJI
Speaking on the occasion of the distribution of ‘provisional sanads’ to the residents of Mayem on the basis of The Goa (Abolition of Proprietorships, Titles and Grants of Lands) Act, 2014, Parrikar said that despite a case pending before the Bombay High Court at Goa, he was sure that the sanads issued to the residents of the village were final.
The sanad provisionally grants occupancy rights to the residents of the village on the lands they are living on. “The word provisional had to be included because of directions from the court. But the sanads are as good as final,” Parrikar said.
“This issue was kept pending for a long time and was rotting because governments in ruling before us failed to understand the issue. We sat and understood the issue and understood that the simple way to solve the problem was to attack the root and kill it,” Parrikar said.
“While drafting laws one has to be very careful because it will certainly be challenged in courts,” Parrikar said. “If we abolish the grant of land, the land comes back to the government and we can then give occupancy rights to persons,” Parrikar said, adding that the former Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni was a big help.
Earlier Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister Francis D’Souza lamented that it has taken quite a while for the government to first draft and pass the law and later to issue the sanads.
“One has to make a law that can stand judicial scrutiny. Besides the number of rights holders have multiplied leading to litigation. An inquiry needs to be carried out as the number of contestants for a single house is many,” D’Souza said.
“At least, we have been able to accomplish one of the promises. In future no political party can include in its manifesto the promise to solve the Mayem issue,” D’Souza added.
Local MLA and Speaker Anant Shet said the process of issuing sanads needs to be speeded up. “The process is slow and time-consuming. More people are needed on the job,” he stated.
Earlier, the collector Agnelo Fernandes informed that the government has received 1,141 applications for occupancy rights. “Of these, 1,123 have been sent to the mamlatdar to conduct an inquiry, 202 have been sent to the collector after completion of the inquiry and 62 have been declared as occupants,” he said.
