PORVORIM: The Legislative
Assembly on Friday unanimously passed the much-delayed ‘Goa Succession, Special Notaries and
Inventory Proceeding Bill, 2012,’ by which the government proposes to
replace the Portuguese Civil Code on succession, inventory and
notarial law, with State laws, to meet the present day requirements and to make
it workable.
The Bill, tabled in 2012 was
referred to the House Select Committee for consideration and it was decided to
present the bill in the original format for passing. Deputy Chief Minister and
Minister for Revenue Francis D’Souza on Friday tabled the Bill in the House.
“Considering the need to
take into account the social changes and the new situations arising from the
fact that Goa is now a state of the Union of India and Goans are citizens of
India and considering also that the laws which in force were applicable to an
altogether different set of political circumstances, it has become necessary to
amend the law to meet the present day requirements and to make it workable,” the
Bill reads.
While passing the bill,
Deputy Speaker Vishnu Wagh, who was chairing the session, said that the Bill is
a first of its kind passed in the country and could set an example to other
states.
Right from Liberation the
provisions of the law relating
to succession, notaries and inventory proceeding were
dispersed in the Civil Code, 1867, in force with effect from August 1,1870, as
amended from time to time; the Civil Procedure Code of 1939 in force from
January 1, 1941; Notarial law dated November 14, 1952 became laws of the
land by virtue of section 5 of the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration)
Act, 1962 (1 of 1962) until amended.
The Bill intends to
consolidate the various provisions of the law relating to succession and
inventory proceedings in property matters, and notaries into one
‘comprehensive, rational and integrated legislation to facilitate their
application and implementation by the bench, the bar and litigants’.
“A pressing need was felt to
consolidate the various provisions of law into one comprehensive, rational and
integrated legislation, to facilitate their application and implementation by
the Bench, the Bar and the litigants,” the Bill states.
The Bill,
also takes a more humane and fair outlook on illegitimacy, on mentally
challenged persons, and on those who were earlier denied property rights
because of social stigma.
