The Margao and Verna Comunidades have already been on record that they are against shifting of cases to the Mamlatdar courts from Civil Courts. The Comunidade forum has opined now that it has given more importance to the issue of the age old land holding and tilling system of Goa which fears losing its lands to concretisation.
Savio Correia, the President of Verna Comunidade, said that the Section 26 of the land code has to be enforced and the land which has been left fallow or changed into concrete structures can and has to be reverted back to Comunidade or the relevant agencies to and restore it back to its original form.
The Attorney of the Margao Comunidade, Celestin Noronha, supported the statement of the President and said that there have been Mamlatdars who have declared several people as tenants in lands which they never tilled. “There has to be control and the Sunset Clause has to be there. If this continues the comunidades will be finished and doomed,” said Celestin.
Article 37 of Agricultural Tenancy Act clearly says that if the land is not cultivated for 3 consecutive years then it has to be reverted back to the Government. 90% of the lands have converted to buildings and other non agro projects.
The Comunidades had breathed a sigh of relief after the cases were sent to the Courts instead of the Mamlatdars, but now see the land of Comunidades draining if the cases come back to Mamlatdars.
Similar cases have happened in Quepem and Canacona comunidade areas wherein the Mamlatdars have declared people as tenants in the lands of unknown and relatively new people wherein the landlord or the comunidade has lost their rights to the lands. “The landlord here in these cases doesn’t have a very big problem as they approach High Court and get relief. But we are the biggest losers as there are 100’s of cases comunidade has to fight at its own expense,” said Celestin Noronha.
The South Goa Comunidades have alleged that it is the Government which is responsible for finishing the Gaonkari and Comunidade system unique to Goa. “The Government shifting cases to the courts was the best development that happened as there are some innocent people and landlords who lost lands due to illegal declarations of people and Mamlatdars,” said one of the landlords from Quepem.
The Attorney of two comunidades and share holder in several others, Joao Philip Pereira, said “The Agricultural tenancy Act has had contrary and adverse impacts on the area of land under cultivation. Even after having sections in law to conserve the lands transferred to the tenants no follow-ups have been done on that.”
