PORVORIM: The Administrator of Communidades (North Goa) has at last woken up and directed the Socorro, Penha-da-Franca and Salvador-do-Mundo panchayats to revoke construction licenses, occupancy certificates, NOCs and other permissions granted by them on the basis of temporary possession certificates issued by the Serula Communidade.
After observations from the court forced a police investigation into the sordid saga of illegal plots and missing documents at the Serula Communidade, the administrator has asked the panchayats to revoke 15 construction licenses issued by the Socorro panchayat, one by the Penha de Franca panchayat and two by the Salvador-do-Mundo panchayat.
However, Socorro Sarpanch Vaishali Satardekar said that though the Administrator had directed action be initiated against 15 persons, the panchayat has issued construction licensees to only 10 persons on temporary possession basis.
In its letter, the Administrator said that no plot of land belonging to the Serula Communidade had been allotted under the Code of Communidade to those persons named by the CID (Crime Branch). “These people in connivance with the office bearers of Serula Communidade allegedly created forged documents of temporary permission certificates and illegally took possession of respective plots,” the letter said. “The police are already seized of the matter and criminal investigation is in progress to punish all those who have committed criminal acts. All the temporary possession certificates are ab-initio null and void and were never legally created or issued. Hence, all such forged documents are null and void ab-initio, that is from their inception and no court order is required to declare them as null and void,” said the administrator. “As a law-abiding public authority, the panchayat is duty bound to cancel all construction licenses, occupancy certificates, NOCs and other permissions which were granted based on those temporary possession certificates.”
Surprisingly, the letter has said that every panchayat is duty bound to verify ownership documents before issuing any construction license or other NOCs and the ownership of this land is vested with the Serula Commundidade.
“Since licenses and NOCs were procured from the panchayat in a fraudulent manner and by misrepresenting, they are bound to be cancelled/revoked immediately upon knowledge of such fraud,” states the letter.
Reacting to the letter, Satardekar said that though the Administrator of Communidades (North Goa) has directed to initiate action against 15 persons, the panchayat has issued construction licenses to only 10 persons based on temporary possession. “The panchayat issued construction licenses after receiving clearance of the project by the Town and Country Planning Department and temporary possession certificates were issued by the Serula Communidade,” she said arguing that “these people have already constructed bungalows and houses after obtaining construction licenses. The panchayat does not have the machinery to verify whether the temporary possession certificates issued by the Serula Communidade were true or false.” Penha de Franca Secretary Vipin Korgaonkar admitted having receiving the letter from the Administrator of Communidades. “This letter has been placed before the panchayat and it has been decided to initiate action against the person named by the CID Crime Branch,” said the panchayat secretary.
Salvador-do-Mundo Secretary Barreto also confirmed receiving the letter from the Administrator of Communidades and said the letter will be placed before the panchyat in the forthcoming panchayat meeting and will initiate necessary action.
