MAPUSA
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has issued notices to all parties concerned in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the government’s decision to grant over 2 lakh square metres of comunidade land in Tivim to the Pune-based MIT Group of Institutions.
The matter is now scheduled for further hearing on August 11.
When the case came up for hearing, Advocate General Devidas Pangam appeared on behalf of the State, while representatives of the MIT Group and the managing committee of the Tivim comunidade were also present.
Senior Advocate Carlos Ferreira appeared for the petitioners in the PIL.
The PIL, filed last month by a group of gauncars from Tivim and reported by The Goan, alleges grave irregularities in the lease process, including fraud, record manipulation and violation of the Code of Comunidades.
The petitioners contend that the land was leased at a highly concessional rate of Rs 12.50 per square metre – far below the estimated market value of Rs 10,000 – without adherence to mandatory procedures.
According to the petition, the lease process violated Article 334-A of the Code of Comunidades, which requires a government-framed scheme and a no-objection certificate (NOC) before leasing comunidade land. The petitioners argue that neither was obtained.
They further claim the MIT Group never formally sought the land at a concessional rate and that the lease proposal was neither disclosed in the General Body meeting agenda nor discussed or approved transparently.
The petitioners allege that the managing committee, in collusion with government officials and the escrivão (clerk), manipulated records to secure the lease and misled the authorities.
They are seeking several remedies, including quashing the government’s approval of the lease granted without public auction, annulment of the General Body resolution authorizing the lease, cancellation of the lease deed executed between the Director of Higher Education and the MIT Group, restoration of the land to the Tivim comunidade, and revocation of any mutation and partition linked to the disputed lease.
An interim relief has also been sought, restraining MIT from undertaking any development or altering the nature of the land until the final disposal of the case.
