The granting of the EC to the Golf Course and villa project in Tiracol, may be a boost to the project proponent but the path to the project’s clearance can pass only through un-tenanted land.

While the Inquiry officer appointed by Court has declared that that agricultural tenancy laws don’t apply to the Tiracol project site, the PIL in the High Court challenging the inquiry officer, Deputy Collector Dharbandora, Agnelo Fernandes’ conclusion will have to be admitted, heard and a decision given. Till the issue of tenancy finally reaches a closure, there is no way that the controversial and contentious project can take off

It is posted for admission and interim relief on November 14.

The High Court in its March 31, order had directed Deputy Collector Fernandes, to hear the Leading Hotels and the various parties to the dispute and submit a report on the tenancy status of the lands as of 2.11.1990, which is the date the Goa Land Use Act, 1991, came into force

The Deputy Collector, according to the PIL challenging his conclusion that tenancy laws don’t apply to Tiracol land, has questioned his view that he was bound by the decisions of several civil courts and mamlatdars which had held that the tenants’ names on the Forms I & XIV were in the nature of “erroneous entries”, thereby putting their tenancy in doubt. To get absolute clarity on the issue, the High Court had directed the parties to appear before the Deputy Collector so he could make an inquiry and find out what the situation was in 1990,” PIL stated.

One must also take into account (as we have done in the past in our reports) the observations of the High court which dealt with the petition of the St Anthony’s Tenants and Mundkars Association (SATMA) which give a clear indication of the court’s mind. We quote from an earlier report of ours “The observations made by the High Court, which quashed and set aside all tenancy free certificates obtained for the purpose of constructing the controversial Rs 500 crore plus golf course at Tiracol, and prohibited construction activity till an inquiry is conducted in the matter; merit a recall. The High Court, on March 31, this year, made strong remarks on the role of the Deputy Collector who granted the certificates to Leading Hotels Ltd, for not examining the tenancy issue as per the law, and ordered that the NOC granted by the town planning authorities and the sanad granted by the collector be kept in abeyance until after the inquiry.”

While the further view taken by the Court will be known only after November 14, it is clear that the tenancy matter is far from being settled. While the mind of the court in the future, obviously cannot be guessed, it’s observations hitherto, based on submissions of  the St Anthony's Tenants and Mundkars Association (SATMA) is in public record and the mind of the court on the issue , during that point of the litigation, is explicit.

This issue assumes significance since it goes beyond this Golf Course and Villa project. This will impact the issue of tenancy rights all over the state and the overall rights of tenants to cultivate and benefit from land which should be in their possession, and not taken over.

The EC granted on Monday, clears the project from the environment point of view. But the foundation of the project is land and unless the land ownership issue is settled, not a brick can be laid.