DUBIOUS DEALS
1)
These parcels of land have changed hands multiple times between 2007 and 2018 apparently to complicate the transactions and make legal scrutiny of dubious titles impossible
2)
Some of the intermediate sale deed transactions have taken place merely on the basis of Form I and IV, which courts have severally ruled to be an unreliable land ownership document
3)
Neither an inventory nor mutation processes have been presented for the deals, the whistle-blower has claimed in his plea to the Chief Minister seeking a detailed probe
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PANAJI: Dubious deals pertaining to vast tracts of land aggregating over 110 acres in Pernem's Dhargalim panchayat area could soon come under scrutiny if Chief Minister Pramod Sawant takes cognisance of a request made by a whistle-blower (name withheld).
These parcels of land, according to the whistle-blower who has dug out information from the related revenue department offices in Pernem, have changed hands multiple times in the ten years between 2007 and 2018 apparently to complicate the transactions and make legal scrutiny of dubious titles at the time of the first sale impossible.
Some of the intermediate sale deed transactions have taken place merely on the basis of Form I and IV, which courts have severally ruled to be an unreliable land ownership document. Neither an inventory nor mutation processes have been presented for the deals, the whistle-blower has claimed in his plea to the Chief Minister seeking a detailed probe into these transactions and raising questions over the role of officials in revenue offices at Pernem.
The properties have been ultimately sold to large real estate companies based in Mumbai and Delhi in these multiple transactions before eventually the entire 110 acres were scooped up by a company which is a major player in Goa's casino industry, according to the documents obtained by the whistle-blower taking advantage of transparency laws.
Pernem has in the last few years has seen sudden spurt in land deals ever since the State government's plans to build a greenfield international airport at the taluka's massive Mopa plateau took wings.
The government is also proposing to set up a gaming zone in Pernem where many believe the off-shore casinos operating while moored in the Mandovi river, much maligned by Opposition politicians and civil society, will eventually be re-located.
Sawant, meanwhile, has obliquely backed the casino industry terming it to be integral to Goa's tourism sector. He has however made it clear that his government will not take any final decision on setting up any gaming zone to relocate the casinos there until the process for formulating a definite casino policy is completed.
