PANJIM: Buying a house in Goa may seem like a very good idea but increasingly for several individuals both NRI and foreigners it has become a nightmare. Corrupt government officials and dodgy lawyers have come together to reduce several such land owners to tears. The truth however could be a far nuanced affair.
The weather, the people and the beaches have an effect on many of these visitors from across the world particularly the English who are tempted to use up their lifelong earnings to purchase land or a flat.
However as a source who is involved in the business revealed, it needs two hands to clap. He said “Many want the property by hook or crook. The tropical weather is a huge attraction. The winters are too bitter as they get old. In addition the people here are warm.”
A majority of the interested parties he said were UK nationals and their interest were usually ignited by the road shows held by builders in that country.
According to Lalit Shah of Lalit Shah and Associates, a chartered accountant based in Pajim, these transactions were allowed under FEMA which came into force in 1999. Residents were allowed to buy land which was not agricultural. He said the definition of a resident was one who had spend 182 days in the country though not continuously from April to March. According to Fema, he said, those who intended to stay in the country for an indefinite period were eligible to transact such deals. Several parties he said had been misguided by people who possessed half baked knowledge.
The decision by the state government to establish a Debt Management Unit (DMU), another source in the industry said it just did not make sense. FEMA, he said was Central act and was under no way a state subject. The RBI is the controlling authority which under no way he said came under the purview of the state.
So, he argued how was it possible for the state to then ask for noc from the Debt Management Unit which was trying to be bigger than FEMA which it constitutionally was not.
Shah said “A NRI, NRE, OCI card holders, PIO could all buy land but have to get a noc from the dmu just like any foreigner.”
A lawyer who was involved in a case in the past said this just did not make sense since the state was trying to undermine FEMA and all that it required was for a case to be filed the high court against this demand and it would certainly be struck down.
The DMU was established in 2013 and to make matter worse the rules have not been notified. The document is still lying with legal department, leading to delays down the line. To make matter worse the DU body which comprises representatives like the state registrar, representatives from the RBI, ED etc were not meeting on a regular basis.
An individual in the know said the body usually met when there were a “ stack of files to be cleared”. This meant he said they could meet once every ten days or once every month and a half thus adding to the pressure on the system. He went on to say that despite a committee having being constituted no one knew what their powers and duties were.
Lalit Shah felt that it was important to have FEMA at the centre. The central government he said had to act and it was important to make everyone in the system feel responsible.
