PANJIM: The Goa government has verified as many as 128 enemy properties, leaving many owners and occupants of flats they bought from builders on at least one such property, to sign a leave and licence agreement as ‘tenants’ for the property they have bought with their hard-earned savings. And what is their crime? Just the sheer ill luck of being connected to a property once owned by someone who happened to reside in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, it is still unclear as to which route will be taken to regularise these properties in the eyes of the government.
As per the Centre’s directive, for enemy properties valued below Rs 1 crore, the “custodian shall offer to sell to the occupant first, and if the offer of purchase is refused, then the property will be disposed of according to the guidelines”. This too is in the realm of confusion for those occupying because this would mean “buying” their own property again.
At the same time, the Custodian of Enemy Properties of India (CEPI) of the Ministry of Homes Affairs (MHA), New Delhi has asked all “Illegal occupants” to sign leave and licence agreements with the Government of India.
All the enemy properties identified and valued in the State belong to those who emigrated to Pakistan, with whom the country shares a hostile relationship.
“Since we received a letter from CEPI to verify enemy properties in the State, we undertook the exercise as it was an arduous task to identify them in the absence of incomplete names. In most of the cases only surnames like Dessai and Naik were provided by CEPI,” an official told O Heraldo.
In that one case at Margao, a building has been built and flats sold to people. The builder has constructed a housing complex and sold plots to occupants, who have now been asked to sign a leave and licence agreement with the Government of India, after assessing the value of the said property at the current market price. “In some cases, the occupants have received notices and those who were unserved will now be served fresh notices asking them to sign the leave and license agreement,” the official said.
In Tiswadi, a professor teaching at Government Polytechnic has been the victim as he purchased enemy property belonging to a woman, who died in Pakistan. The professor bought the property from a person, who held Power of Attorney, over the woman. After the land parcel was identified as enemy property the occupant approached the High Court.
The occupant prayed to set aside the government’s decision. However, the Court referred the matter to the CEPI, to re-examine it.
In 12 cases, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has remanded the matter back to the CEPI for re-examination after the occupants claimed that they had purchased the properties after completing all government formalities.
According to the CEPI, there are a total of 260 enemy properties situated across the State. The highest 231 properties are located in the Bardez taluka while 10 properties are in Tiswadi and one is in Bicholim taluka of North Goa district. In South Goa, 18 properties have been identified in Salcete and Mormugao talukas.
Since 2014, the Revenue Department authorities have identified and completed the valuation of 120 enemy properties in Bardez, seven in Tiswadi, and one in Bicholim taluka. The authorities suspect that most of these properties are illegally occupied and there are no records available on whether these land parcels have been rented out. The authorities are still verifying records of 111 properties in Bardez and three in Bicholim. In a few cases, the mutation process has been completed even as the authorities have now put a note that no mutation will be permitted for the transaction of enemy properties and to contact the respective taluka Mamlatdar, for inquiries.
