MAPUSA
The onus is now firmly on the Administrator of Comunidades, North Zone, to decide whether the leasing of comunidade land by the Mapusa Gramastha Hindu Sabha to an automotive company has legal sanctity under the Code of Comunidades, especially as more than a year has elapsed despite a clear High Court directive to adjudicate the matter within four months.
The controversy concerns the leasing of approximately 3,900 square metres of comunidade land by the Mapusa Gramastha Hindu Sabha, which manages the Mapusa crematorium, to M/S Automotive De Cristal LLP to establish an automobile service centre.
Local petitioners Sanjay Barde and Sitesh More had approached the High Court in February last year, challenging the legality of the decision to confer leasehold rights over the land for nine years.
The petitioners argued that the land, originally granted exclusively for the establishment of a crematorium, could not legally be diverted for commercial use.
The property in question forms part of approximately 22,300 square metres of land belonging to the Mapusa comunidade, which was reportedly granted free of cost to the Mapusa Gramastha Hindu Sabha in 1987 solely for the purpose of establishing and operating a crematorium.
According to records placed before the court, the Mapusa Gramastha Hindu Sabha entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with M/s Automotive De Cristal LLP in January 2024, granting leasehold rights over a portion of the land measuring 3,900 square metres for a period of nine years.
The petitioners have relied heavily on Article 31-A of the Code of Comunidades, contending that land allotted for a specific public purpose cannot subsequently be utilised for any other purpose without legal sanction.
Acting on the petition, the High Court had directed the Administrator of Comunidades, Pandurang Gad, to adjudicate the matter and pass an appropriate order within four months. However, despite the lapse of more than a year, no final order has yet been passed, with the matter reportedly remaining pending on account of clarifications being sought by the Administrator.
In the meantime, the District Collector, North Goa, has reiterated that the Administrator of Comunidades, North Zone, is the competent quasi-judicial authority under the Code of Comunidades and is required to take an appropriate decision in accordance with law.
With the issue continuing to remain unresolved well beyond the timeframe fixed by the High Court, attention is now centred on the Administrator’s office, which will have to take a final call at the earliest on whether the lease arrangement is legally sustainable under the provisions of the Code of Comunidades.
