PANJIM: Lawyer activist Advocate Aires Rodrigues on Tuesday sought the intervention of Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai to ensure that the MLAs facing criminal charges are not inducted as ministers.
In his representation, Adv Rodrigues has urged Governor Pillai to prevail upon the next Chief Minister not to induct in the Cabinet those who are charge-sheeted in criminal cases.
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“Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho is the main accused in the 2001 infamous multi-crore Power scam case while Panjim MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate and Taleigao MLA Jennifer Monseratte are the prime accused in the 2008 Panjim Police Station attack case and that Babush Monseratte is also currently facing criminal charges of having raped a minor girl,” he said.
He also pointed out to a landmark Judgment of the Supreme Court in 2014 that had advised not to induct in the Cabinet charge-sheeted persons facing trial.
Also stating that the Supreme Court had further observed that criminalisation of politics is anathema to the sacredness of democracy, Adv Rodrigues has further stated that the court had also observed that the systemic corruption and sponsored criminalisation could corrode the fundamental core of elective democracy and consequently Constitutional governance.
Adv Rodrigues in his letter to Governor Pillai also recalled that in 2008 Goa’s then minister Dayanand Narvekar was made to tender his resignation as minister after he was charge-sheeted for criminal offences.
