ALBERTINA ALMEIDA
The Goa Legislative As sembly just passed an Ease of Doing Business (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill and Land Revenue Amend ment Bill that profits big busi nesses such as those that are thrusting their way, be they silly sounding ones or deltas to the businesses’ existing pro files. This was amidst a slew of Bills that were passed in a three day Assembly session. But what Goa badly needs is an Ease of Living for Local People Bill! This means a Bill that pro poses amendments that en sure quality air, easy and con tinuous affordable access to basic public utilities like water and electricity connections, re liable access to public servic es like education, healthcare, transport accessible by people from the remotest of areas and periodically, quick delivery of services and adjudication by revenue officers, law and order, women’s safety, pro tection of children, affordable living, access for marginalised groups to services without dis crimination and with enabling features, single window sys tem for people seeking minor repairs or small construction. Yes, provisions for this appear under different laws, but in stead of bringing out a catch-all legislation that would ensure that appropriate amendments are carried out to the various laws that can ensure these for real, the Government has by the Bills introduced sought to snatch away even what people here have or could possibly regain. Land that was forcibly ac quired for the industrial es tates – much from Scheduled Tribe Communities, can now be given as freehold to plot holders, and the Panchayat or Municipality that got house tax will get compensation for only a determined peri od.
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What is more, this Bill provides for almost a single window for getting permis sion and approvals such as under planning laws and laws pertaining to prevention and control of pollution, including grant of Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate un der the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (Central Act 6 of 1974) and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (Central Act 14 of 1981), in respect of industries other than red category industries. All these provisions are go ing to have the effect of further compromising the rights of people for ease of living. We did not see any laws in the just concluded three day Assembly session that would ease the life of local people in Goa, particu larly its marginalized sections.
To ease their life, they must first have a proper voice in the Assembly. This means that the Assembly session must have a duration of much more than three days. The session was reduced to three days on the pretext that for the volume of business, three days would survive. In that, they scheduled it in such a way that there was no Friday, and again, on that pretext, there was no Private Members’ Day. Is there any logic to this? An amendment to the Goa Children’s Act was limited to making an amendment de leting the word ‘leprosy’ in keeping with the Supreme Court Judgement on the sub ject. But successive statutory Children’s Commissions have made out a case for amend ments to the Goa Children’s Act, 2003, to flesh out some of the provisions to make them effective and to bring the law on par to respond to further developments since it was en acted, and also to synchronise with the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and many of the suggestions for amendments have been made after much deliberation and a lot of consultations, but still, these amendments remain elusive.
Women’s safety is also no priority with notional Women Police Station or De partment of Women and Child without giving them nodal sta tus and placing accountability, that could give a focused atten tion to what is to be done for instance to address the issue of 42% rise in rape cases. Not to forget that there was no room in the Assembly session for discussion of a resolution that was suggested for women’s reservation with inclusion and federalism, to give an impe tus to the Centre to introduce a Constitutional amendment that could have made wom en’s reservation possible in the forthcoming Assembly elections. The amendment to the Goa Registration Act, has been sought to be made to bring it on par with the NGDRS system prevailing in India. But who is even ready to listen to the ex isting issues faced by common people with the registration of their documents. Develop ment Agreements have been brought within the ambit of registration. But the builders who descend here from vari ous parts of India have found a new way of trapping people. They sign a Memorandum of Understanding, and that re mains completely out of the pale of registration, and is, yet, sought to be legally enforced! Much like the Birch by Romeo Lane owners for whom the li censing and approval machin ery bent backwards and who remained out of the ambit of the inspection and surveillance machinery, through means for which they obviously enjoyed support of various powers that be.
There is an entire economy that works completely outside the ambit of the law, or contra ry to the law. The Government’s own re plies in the Assembly show that casinos have failed to pay dues worth crores of rupees. But no one is running after them to cancel their licences, the way the Government runs after lay people to cancel their electricity connections if they fail to pay the bills. It would have been nice to see a legis lation that would see the li cences of these big businesses that are posing a threat to our law and order, be automatical ly cancelled. On the contrary, one saw the Goa Government resorted to paying obeisance to the Centre’s smart meter policy and only tinkering with the rate at the state level, with out responding to the core is sues of the opposition against smart meters, and without making out a case for a Goa Ex ception to the Centre to start with, which could have been proposed through a Goa Ease of Living Bill.
The Provisions in the amendment to the Legislative Diploma pertaining to Co munidade read like a further slaughtering of the powers of the Comunidade through its attorney, making him a rubber stamp or a conduit for Mhaje Ghar application approvals. It would have been salutary if the said Legislative Diploma was amended to make the Comu nidade inclusive of local wom en and marginalised groups, which it is not in some places. Yes, if people have indeed lived for years together, albeit in il legal houses, they need to be rehabilitated or housing pro vided, but this cannot be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. And on the other hand, that Ease of Doing Business Bill has provisions for system gen erated appeals if services are not provided within the pre scribed time. One would wish there would be system gener ated appeals if services are not provided, or no reply is pro vided, or a reply stating that the information is not trace able is provided. That would make the life of the common citizen so much easier. Mund kars have to go scrambling for land registration details which they need to have for securing nil encumbrance certificates.
Approaching the authority under Right to In formation does not secure them that information be cause the Government’s files are often ‘not traceable’. Why so? Earlier at least, after filing an application under Right to Information Act, the file that the clerk was telling you is un traceable would miraculously appear. But where is the ease for people to even get the ben efit of the existing laws? Also, what happened to the provi sions for time bound services? Time bound disposal of cases by Revenue Officers? The Rev enue Officers are burdened with so many responsibilities that take them away from this adjudication. If only a Goa Ease of Living Bill was introduced, passed, got the consent of the Gover nor and was implemented! In a Constitutional democracy that promises substantive equality to the people and federalism, is that too much to ask? (Albertina Almeida is a lawyer and human rights activist)
