Team Herald
PANJIM: The State government on Tuesday recommended Dharbandora Deputy Collector Agnelo Fernandes to inquire into the tenancy-free certificates issued by the Deputy Collector Pernem to the Tiracol Golf Course and Resort project proponents Leading Hotels Limited.
The division bench of the High Court of Bombay at Goa is expected to pronounce its order on the public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the government approvals granted to project within a week’s time.
When the matter came up for hearing, Advocate General Saresh Lotlikar recommended Fernandes’ name for the inquiry, which was accepted by the Court.
The arguments on the PIL filed by Goa Foundation, St Anthony Tenants and Mundkar Association (SATMA) and others, concluded with the division bench comprising of Justice FM Reis and Justice Nutan Sardessai reserving its order.
The High Court had in July 2015 granted an interim stay on the project, while allowing Leading Hotels to construct two model villas in an area of around 700 sq mtrs.
The petitioners had filed a fresh PIL in July 2015 to the December 2014 PIL against the project. The petition was based on what they claim to be fraudulent change of land from agriculture to non-agriculture land. The December 2014 petition filed by St Anthony Mundkar and Tenants Association sought a resolution to tenancy matters and called for a stop to work on the project.
As reported earlier, the petition has alleged that “it is the experience of common people that when powerful actors are at work and politicians get involved, law is subverted and made useless. Inconvenient documents including earlier proceedings before the Mamlatdar were withheld from the Civil Courts. Efforts were successfully made to show the tenancies as “wrong entries” and thereafter to procure appropriate orders for getting “tenancy-free certificates.” (Excerpt from petition)
Following the petition, government had appointed a one man inquiry commission headed by Sandip Jacques to study whether the land, acquired for the project was tenanted. The Committee submitted a report whose tone and tenor, according to reliable sources, appeared largely sympathetic to tenants. The report was, for all practical purposes buried.
