Team Herald
PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday ordered the status quo in the allotment of shops in the reconstructed market complex at Bhoma-Adcolna and directed the Bhoma-Adcolna village panchayat to file a detailed affidavit within the next two weeks regarding the allotment of shops to Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities.
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The Bhoma-Adcolna panchayat, in its monthly meeting on October 15, 2024, passed a resolution to reserve only five shops for ST communities and conducted an auction for the remaining shops. The Court found this action to be in violation of the affidavit filed by the Directorate of Tribal Welfare.
In its affidavit, the Directorate of Tribal Welfare stated that in the reconstructed market complex for the Bhoma-Adcolna Panchayat at Banastarim, it was proposed to construct 64 shops in place of the existing 37 shops. Of these 64 shops, 27 new shops were to be allocated for persons belonging to the ST communities. Additionally, the proposal stated that 275 ST vendors would be accommodated in the open spaces of the reconstructed market complex. This proposal had been approved and recommended by the Project Appraisal Committee.
Arguing on behalf of the petitioner, Tukaram Bhagwant Gaude, Adv Rohit Bra De Sa said that the reconstruction of the market complex for the panchayat was funded by grants from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, intended for the benefit of tribal people. However, the panchayat failed to consider this fact.
at the grants were released by the Government of India on the condition that the State government would implement the projects within the amounts released and would reserve 27 shops for the ST communities.
Adv De Sa told the Court that there was a complete contradiction between the affidavit filed by the Directorate of Tribal Welfare and the resolution passed by the Bhoma-Adcolna panchayat, which reserved only five shops for ST communities while auctioning the remaining shops on the first floor of the new market complex at Banastarim for the general category.
The matter has now been posted for the next hearing on January 28.
