THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The opposition Congress on Thursday charged that Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant is misusing the State machinery and his power to wrest control of the Sankhali Municipal Council.
In the latest decision, Sankhali chairperson Raya Parsekar and councillor Rajesh Sawal were disqualified as councillors by an order passed by Law Minister Nilesh Cabral and not by the concerned Urban Development Minister Milind Naik.
Though the High Court has granted interim relief to the two councillors, Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat demanded to know how a Law Minister, who has nothing to do with the Urban Development Department, can disqualify the municipal councillors. The government has violated the basic fundamental law, he said.
Addressing the media in the presence of Congress-backed councillors, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar said after the Chief Minister failed to get his candidate elected in the by-election, he, through his supporters, tried to restrain the two councillors by filing a petition before the Urban Development Minister.
However, the two councillors got relief in the High Court since there was no proper ground for their disqualification. The petitions were later referred to the Law Minister, who
disqualified Parsekar and Sawal as per Section 44 of the Goa Municipalities Act.
Chodankar has also demanded investigation into the allotment of a plot belonging to the Goa Housing Board to a nursing institute at Sankhali without auctioning it. He said the plot admeasuring 2350 square metres was reserved for the proposed maternity home and for the post and telegraph offices. But both the plots were amalgamated and sold to a nursing institute.
Former Sankhali chairperson Dharmesh Saglani alleged that during last three years, chief officers were transferred 20 times. He said though the Law Minister disqualified the two councillors, a disqualification petition filed against rival councillor Shubhada Sawaikar was pending before the Director of Municipal Administration.
He alleged that the government was harassing them only because they are backed by the Congress and that the Chief Minister was unable to gain control of the council. He said they have till date won seven cases in the High Court all against the government decisions.
