the goan I network
MARGAO
With revenue officials busy with the conduct of the March 22 Zilla Panchayat polls, litigants from Salcete were once again left high and dry as the presiding officers resorted to mass adjournment of revenue cases.
The mass adjournment of cases has once again brought to the fore the failure of the revenue authorities to put in a mechanism in place when prior intimation is given to the litigants and their lawyers on the adjournment of cases for whatever reasons.
Tuesday saw dozens of litigants and their lawyers taken completely by surprise as they were told at the office of the Deputy Collector, Margao, that the revenue cases posted for hearing for the day were adjourned. Reason: The presiding officer is preoccupied with the ongoing election work and hence was not available to take up the hearings.
Litigants, who had to return disappointed, told The Goan that the office of the Deputy Collector, Margao, HAS now given a date in April for the hearings.
And, the present situation is expected to continue till March 23 when the election process is completed by the authorities. Given that the Deputy Collector-I and Deputy Collector-II have been designated as Returning Officers for the nine Zilla Panchayat constituencies in Salcete, hearings of all matters before the two officers will be postponed from February 27, the day the process for filing of nomination papers begins.
Officials pointed out that the revenue officials were all busy with the training of election staff in view of the March 22 Zilla Panchayat elections. Salcete has a total of nine Zilla Panchayat constituencies and will be manned by two Returning Officers, Deputy Collector-I and Deputy Collector-II. The Salcete Mamlatdar is the Assistant Electoral Returning Officer.
A litigant told The Goan that this is not the first time that the presiding officer has adjourned the hearing of revenue cases on the plea that he is preoccupied either with election or administrative work.
In fact, litigants from Salcete have been demanding that the District Collector, South, in particular and the Revenue Department in general work out a mechanism wherein the litigants are given prior intimation on the adjournment of revenue cases. “Why should the litigants suffer for no fault of theirs in the event the presiding officer is not available to hear the case? A prior intimation can save the litigants from travelling long distances to make it to the South Goa Collectorate and also pay legal fees to their lawyers,” remarked a litigant.
In fact, the prevailing situation in the revenue courts in the South Goa District Collectorate was brought to the notice of successive revenue ministers with a plea to work out a mechanism in place to intimate the litigants in advance on adjournments, but in vain.
