Govt yet to scrap proposal despite court order: inquiries
MARGAO, JUNE 17
With the High Court setting aside the land acquisition process to acquire land admeasuring 50,000 sq mts for a village playground in Nuvem village, the very fate of this controversial project hangs in balance following the court order.
Inquiries with the Land Acquisition Office revealed that the government has not yet scrapped the playground proposal till date after the court ruling. Against this backdrop, the deputy collector, Margao said he will have no option than to go ahead with the land acquisition process under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act and start the inquiry afresh.
The High Court has set aside the notification issued by the Goa government under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act on the main ground that the Land Acquisition Officer had failed to examine the validity of an alternative site following a petition from the farmers and others against the mega sports project.
“I am aware of the High Court order setting aside the acquisition process. But, my office has not received any communication from the Goa Government or the acquiring department, Directorate of Sports to drop the land acquisition process”, maintained deputy Collector, Johnson Fernandes.
He said the High Court, while setting aside the land acquisition process, had ruled that the Land Acquisition Officer will be free to hold a fresh enquiry under Section 5A of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 in accordance with law.
While setting aside the land acquisition proceedings, the High Court said the Land Acquisition Officer completely ignored the specific objection and examination of alternate land cited by the petitioners.
The Court had held that the inspection report of the land acquisition office fails to reveal inspection of the alternative barren land, adding there is nothing to show that any thought was given to the expenditure that would be required to be incurred for filling up the low-lying paddy fields for making them suitable for the purposes for which the fields were to be acquired and to the effect such acquisition would have on natural drainages of the water in village Nuvem. “The expenditure involved while adopting the low lying paddy fields for the public purpose – development of playground — by two metres mud filling therefore become relevant factor to be taken into account vis-à-vis the alternative barren land”, the court said, adding that the land acquisition officer, was therefore, under obligation to consider the specific objections by the petitioners.
The court had further held that perusal of the report under Section 5A reveals that that Land Acquisition Officer had completely ignored the specific objections, adding that examination of the petitioners could have possibly relieved the Land Acquisition Officer of the trouble to launch himself on “hunting expedition” in search of the alternatives.
‘Unfortunately, no thought was given by the Land Acquisition Officer to this tool of examination in the enquiry which he was obliged to conduct under section 5A of the Act. The fact clearly demonstrates that the Land Acquisition Officer rushed to the conclusions thereby reducing the said enquiry to a farcical level as contended by the petitioners. Obviously, therefore, such procedural impropriety must have been deemed to have impaired the decision making process of the government involved in issuance of notification under Section 6 of the Act.
