Sawant to set up inquiry commission to fast track the return of grabbed Goan land

Team Herald

PANJIM: Over a hundred Goan families and counting, and their next of kin have more than a glimmer of hope of their ancestral land, robbed by an interlinked land mafia, will be returned.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday that the State government will soon set up a Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired judge to revert land titles back to their rightful owners.

Sawant said that the Commission of Inquiry will be primarily assigned the task of reverting land titles back to the lawful owners after verifying the claims within the next three to four months.

However, there is one aspect of the fine print. 110 sale deeds registered are all no man’s land for which if no claims come from the owners then it will be taken over by the government.

This might open up another Pandora’s box. If the original owners or their kith and kin are unable to establish all documents the government will lay claim on them. The value of this land will go into hundreds of crores.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has already been constituted by the government to investigate the cases involving land grabbing by the forging of Portuguese period documents. He said that 15 persons have already been arrested and they will be charge sheeted and face trial.

The Chief Minister said that terms of reference for both, SIT and Commissioner of Inquiry will be framed soon. The Commission of inquiry will complete its process within the next four to five months.

Sawant said that those who prove their ownership of their land with proper documentation would claim their land from the Commissioner of Inquiry, which will be like a “quasi-judiciary” and they need not knock on the doors of Civil Courts.