PANJIM: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said that the ‘sunset clause’ from the Goa Agriculture Tenancy (Amendment) Act 2014 would be withdrawn through a fresh amendment during the forthcoming Legislative Assembly’s monsoon session.
Clarifying that there would not be any other changes in the Act, Parsekar said that nearly 5,000 tenancy cases pending before the mamlatdars have been transferred to the Court of Senior Civil Judge to ensure that the tenants become landlords at the earliest.
“People are condemning the government for bringing in the sunset clause to the Agricultural Tenancy Act, just for the sake of maligning the government, without actually knowing the reason behind these amendments. The clause was introduced to ensure speedy justice to the tenants,” Parsekar told media persons in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who holds the revenue portfolio.
He said that the withdrawal of the clause has been proposed to do away with ‘misconceptions’ created among the people about the amendments which were brought with good intentions.
The Sunset Clause (section 60C) gives tenants three years from September 25, 2014, to file an application declaring their tenancy rights under section 7 of the old Act.
“It is sad but true that in spite of enacting the particular Act some 50 years ago, there are a number of tenants, who could not get proper justice,” he lamented. He added that in several cases there still exists confusion between the name of the landlord and the tenant on Form I & XIV pertaining to the land record. He said that the mamlatdar offices are flooded with such tenant-landlord dispute cases.
Stating that the necessary amendments to the Tenancy Act were brought to protect tenanted land, the Chief Minister pointed out that land sharks are eyeing tenanted lands and the middlemen have been taking advantage of this perplexity for sale of such lands at a very low price.
“The people, who are condemning government for bringing in the amendments, are the ones who have illegally purchased tenanted lands at very low prices. They (opponents) are now worried as they will not be able to purchase more land from tenants,” he said.
The Act was passed during the Budget session, last year. The amendment drew strong criticism from the opposition benches as well as from the tenants association.
