The amendment was not only objected to in the Assembly but also by the Comunidade bodies. The Comunidade bodies have now requested the Governor not to approve the amendment although the Assembly has given it the nod. Congress legislator Carlos Ferreira, AAP’s Venzy Viegas, RG’s Viresh Borkar and Vijay Sardesai of Goa Forward Party along with LoP Yuri Alemao demanded that the bill be sent to the Select Committee to study it further, instead of passing it hastily.
Needless to say, the government paid no heed to their suggestions, except for one by Ferreira which was related with Article 339-A. The rest of the bill was passed as it is. All in all, the common conclusion has been that the government is aiming to interfere in Comunidade operations and the recent amendment grants the government the rights to do so. Viegas also raised the question as to why there was a need to bring in this amendment in the first place and which was passed in such a haste, to which the government had no answer. Notably, during the discussion on the bill, Revenue Minister Babush Monserrate’s lack of knowledge on the issue was revealed despite the fact that the matter comes under jurisdiction of the ministerial portfolio he holds. Ferreira cornered him while pointing out that there is an anomaly between Monserrate’s explanation and the provisions mentioned in the law.
Law Minister Nilesh Cabral tried to counter Ferreira, but the Aldona MLA remained firm on his views.
At the end, the Chief Minister agreed to Ferreira and accepted the correction pointed out by him. As per a clause, the Comunidades now will have to take approval from the government if they intend to develop the land through private agencies and the components must invite bids for the same. However, Ferreira objected to the need of government’s permission as the Comunidade is a private institution. When the Chief Minister responded saying that a Comunidade can do so if they are financially weak, Ferreria brought it to everybody’s notice that there is no such mention in the amendment. Finally, the ruling party had to add it in the clause. There is also opposition to Article 334-C, which grants the government the right to the land for any public purpose, of course, with the Comunidade’s consent. As per the Opposition, this amendment will be misused by the government and also claimed that this is an attempt to entirely destroy the Code of Comunidades.
The government has stated two main objectives to bring in the amendment: A) To appropriate the selection of the managing committee of the Comunidade; and, B) To grant land to private agencies for development. The adjourned committee will be eligible to re-elect and this is a crucial point that needs to be discussed. What is the reason behind giving the land to private agencies to develop? There are other small amendments which just create more questions and the important one is related to the rights of shareholders regarding giving lands. This has been opposed by almost all the officials of the Comunidades. There are two members of the Comunidades which are categorised as Gaonkars and Shareholders. Gaonkars get the profits while the shareholders earn dividends. As per the Comunidade officials, shareholders currently do not have the right to buy the land, however, the new amendment will grant them this right. If the government intended to amend the Code, they should have taken all the parties concerned in confidence by calling a convention. The provisions should have been discussed and only then added as amendments.
The government does not seem to have anyone in its squad who is an expert in the matter and so, they should have consulted a few experts before introducing the amendment. The amendment and the overall manner in which the issue was handled seems shady. Why was the government in a haste to pass the amendments? On whose demand did was this done? Did they bring in the amendment to eliminate problems in existing legislation? There are more questions than the answers.
