PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday dismissed the petitions filed against removal of encroachments in the Comunidade of Tivim land.
As many as 10 personas namely Ayub Khan and Khurshida Ahmad, Salim Sandhi, Mehmood Ansari, Dadapir Lohar, Sandu; Sattar Shaikh, Ibrahim Saab, Salim M G Shaikh, Pramod Shinde, Noor Ahmed Leshwar and Ismail Chapperband had filed separate appeals praying to quash and set aside the impugned judgments and decrees of the District Court directing to remove encroachments carried out by the appellants on the Comunidade property.
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The appellants contented that the constructions put up by them were regularisable and deserved to be regularised under Article 372-A of the Code of Comunidades. They further stated that their applications for regularisation of the suit structure made under Article 372-A of the Code of Comunidades, 1961 (Code) was pending before the District Collector. Therefore, until such an application was disposed of, the demolition order dated January 24, 2011 issued by the Administrator of Comunidades, North cannot be enforced.
In its judgment, the court referred to the encroachments as a case of brazen and high-handed usurpation of the Comunidade property by the appellants. Such encroachers cannot insist upon regularisation as a matter of an absolute right, High Court Judge Justice Mahesh Sonak said.
Stating that there was neither any approval from the government nor were the provisions of the Code of Comunidades regarding allotment complied with, the Court held that an allottee based upon such a void ab initio allotment was nothing but an encroacher or trespasser on Comunidade lands. The Court said that the government is duty bound and responsible to ensure that the Comunidade lands are not frittered away particularly by encroachments.
