TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: A livid Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar literally took on the lower judiciary accusing them of passing orders beyond their jurisdiction and promising to approach the Chief Justice of India asking for remedial measures on the issue of dual citizenship. He also admitted that those holding Portuguese citizenship are no more Indian citizens, but they should be given some protection.
Arguing that this was a matter for the Centre to resolve, Parrikar said that he would meet the concerned Union Minister after September 12 to try and sort it out.
“I will personally raise the issue. These Delhi bureaucrats do not understand the issue,” the Chief Minister said. He also said that he personally felt that there was a need to “reorient the judicial officers so that reasoned and judicious verdicts are pronounced and the faith of the common man in the judiciary remains intact.”
The Chief Minister promised to bring this to the notice of the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the High Court and ask for remedial measures. Parrikar admitted that those holding Portuguese citizenship are no more Indian citizen. He however assured that government will sympathetically consider cases wherein an individual is born in Portugal and still carries Indian passport.
“They should be given some protection. We have written to the Prime Minister,” he said. “But those who have already taken Portuguese passport, their Indian citizenship is automatically extinguished.” Parrikar further explained that this section of people do not have voting rights in India.
Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho had raised a calling attention motion that with the figure of those having Portuguese passport touching 40,000, there is a fear that there would not be any Goans left in Goa.
In a written reply, Parrikar said a total of 15 complaints have been filed by several activists at various police stations. “Out of nine complaints filed in different police stations of South Goa, criminal cases have been registered in two instances, the remaining seven complaints are still pending before various JMFCs,” the reply mentions. “Out of three complaints filed in different police stations of North Goa, no case has been registered. Out of three complaints before Crime Branch, no case has been registered,” the reply further disclosed.
In the wake of several complaints filed by a junior engineer in the electricity department against the government, Parrikar has warned of action against him. “I have told the department to take action against him because he takes salary from government coffers and files complaints…he argues himself (in the courts) means he is definitely not working (in the office),” he told the House.
Government has also taken serious note that some activists whose antecedents and motives are highly questionable, are resorting to blackmail tactics and witch hunting by filing false cases against persons occupying high positions, merely to embarrass or blackmail them. “Government is thinking of taking appropriate action against them,” he said.
The reply also reveals that a High Court judge has also not been spared of the false allegation, terming this as ‘most disturbing.’
“It is high time that serious view of all these matters is taken and the same is appropriately dealt with. While my government wholeheartedly endorses any person, including activists, bringing out genuine cause which will serve public interest, but at the same time blackmailing and witch hunting cannot be tolerated,” Parrikar said in the written reply tabled in the House.
