After stirring a hornet’s nest, Goa’s Chief Secy is finally transferred

After his alleged conversion and purchase of 1,875 sqms in Aldona, Goel is shunted to Delhi
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Team Herald

PANJIM: Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel, IAS, who was in the eye of controversy following alleged conversion and purchase of 1,875 square metres of land in Aldona village, was on Saturday, transferred and appointed as Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, New Delhi.

Goel’s transfer came a few days after the High Court of Bombay at Goa issued notices to him and others in a PIL writ petition challenging the purchase of a land in Aldona village at Rs 2.60 crore after it was converted from orchard to settlement. What was surprising was that he made notings on the file of the land he himself bought.

Activist Swapnesh Sherlekar had recently exposed on YouTube land documents pertaining to the purchase of a property by the Chief Secretary, after it was converted from orchard to settlement at Aldona, by using Section 17 (2) of Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act.

Sherlekar had alleged that a bungalow was built illegally on an agricultural property on Survey No. 36/1 in Aldona. The bungalow was built in 2016 and the sale deed for the same was done in May 2024.

He called it ‘the illegal purchase’ of a bungalow by the Chief Secretary from Cyril Philip Mendonca.

He has been transferred along with six other secretary level officials of the Government of India.

The transfer order was issued by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training, New Delhi.

Goel was appointed as Goa Chief Secretary on February 1, 2022. He was transferred to Goa in July 2019 and was posted as Principal Secretary before this. Direndra Phadte of Ecoxim, Bardez and Jose Maria Miranda of Borda-Margao, have filed a PIL writ petition before the High Court challenging the land purchased by the Chief Secretary at Aldona after converting it from orchard into settlement. The High Court has posted the matter for hearing on October 22.

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