Give Goa special status because of comunidade system: Yatish Naik

PANJIM: Despite the Goa Assembly passing a resolution asking for special status for the State, and BJP’s then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi giving assurances nothing seems to have happened on the crucial issue. 

Now Adv Yatish Naik has submitted a memorandum to Governor Mridula Sinha asking that special status be granted to the State due to its unique traits of having the Comunidade or Gaunkari system – an ancient legacy, and the Uniform Civil Code – a Portuguese legacy.

Naik has also asked for the Town and Country Planning Act 1974 to be amended and that section 16A be discarded as it does not make any sense to exclude government projects from the operative domain of the Regional Plan cannot be considered to be in sync with the concept of holistic planning.

Naik says that we need to point this uniqueness to the country warranting the constitutional protection to Goa in terms of granting special status. “We could peruse the constitutional scheme that with the religious and social practices of the Nagas and the Naga customary law has been considered in a special way by the Parliament while affording Nagaland special protection in terms of Art 371 A of the Constitution or the religious or social practices of the Mizos and the Mizo customary law has been considered in some special way by the Parliament while affording Mizoram special protection in terms of Art 371 G,” he says. 

Adv Naik pushed for special status on the same premises saying that in the same way special status for Goa too should be granted because the institution of the Comunidade or the Gaunkaris is one of the “peculiar” institutions existing in Goa. “It is essential to note that the institution of the Comunidades so also the applicability of the Portuguese Civil Code as personal law in Goa are unique aspects which need to be appropriately pressed for and pushed before the Central government while it decides on Goa’s case for the grant of special status,” he says in his memorandum submitted to the Governor.