The controversial Agriculture Tenancy (Amendment) Bill that proposed to omit the Sunset Clause was passed in the Assembly through division of votes on Thursday. While it was a clear mandate for ruling, the opposition independent MLAs Naresh Sawal and Rohan Khaunte did not vote during the division. The bill was passed with a total of 24 legislators supporting it as against 4 opponents. The opposition this afternoon demanded division of votes on passing of the bill. 

The house turned into a platform of discussion, as opposition legislators as well MLAs from the alliance Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) demanded removal of clause 5 of the Bill, which aims to transfer all the tenancy related cases to the Civil Court from the Mamlatdar. Speaking on the floor of the house, Opposition leader Pratapsingh Rane said, “We oppose the clause which transfers tenancy cases into civil courts. This clause will hurt a majority of small tenants as poor people are not in a condition to hire lawyers to resolve their matter. The charges of lawyers are much more than the land.”

Demanding to keep the bill in abeyance, MGP legislator Lavoo Mamledar said, “The Civil court doesn’t take any case without any evidence; meanwhile Mamlatdar can resolve the matter in a day. I request the state government to appoint a special magistrate exclusively to deal with tenancy cases.”

However, defending the Government’s decision, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, “Tenancy cases are going on for years with the Mamlatdar. I have many such cases where the case was never heard for years, so therefore we took the decision to transfer the cases to court.” 

Responding to the question raised by the leader of the opposition on how many cases have been transferred to court, Parsekar further said, “In North Goa, 1369 cases are transferred to civil/district court and 532 cases are pending. Meanwhile in South Goa, 1268 cases are transferred to civil/district court and 376 cases are pending. We have processed around 80% of cases to the court and it will take another year if we roll back cases from the court and register with 

Mamlatdar.”