GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO: The dust raised over the contentious citizenship tangle involving Benaulim MLA Caitu Silva has not settled down as yet.
Welcome to the South District Collectorate where an application for mutation of property by a resident of Per Seraulim has become a subject matter of debate whether an Overseas Citizen of India can dispose of his property via a sale deed.
Saturnino Rodrigues and his wife from Per Seraulim must have made 41 trips to the office of the Salcete Mamlatdar over the last seven months ever since he filed an application for mutation of his property admeasuring 650 sq mts purchased from a vendor enjoying OCI status. Every time he has visited the Mamlatdar’s office, he has come across the same old reply – can the office carry out the mutation of a property sold by an OCI? Pleas by Saturnino and his wife that they had purchased the property from an OCI citizen and not from a foreign national has not helped cap the issue. In the last seven months, the file has shunted between the Mamlatdar’s office and the Deputy Collector, Revenue.
An exasperated Saturnino knocked the doors of the District Collector Venancio Furtado on Wednesday with a plea to resolve the issue at the earliest. But even before the Collector could take a call, the Mamlatdar’s office has sought guidance of Deputy Collector, Revenue, on the question whether permission of the Reserve Bank of India or State Registrar is required.
An angry Saturnino has questioned the rationale of referring the OCI status as foreign national. “Despite the fact that I have attached OCI documents, the Mamlatdar’s office appears confused on the question whether citizens with OCI status can purchase and sell land. “Foreign nationals are barred from buying or selling properties, but those having OCI status can buy or sell property other than agricultural land”, he asserted.
When Herald contacted the Deputy Collector, Revenue, Surendra Naik, to throw light in the matter, he said the issue will be discussed with the Collector to evolve a solution as per law. He also disclosed plans to despatch circulars to all the mamlatdars on OCI for their kind attention. “The revenue authorities will take a call on the issue after discussions with the Collector”, Naik said.
Saturnino’s woes may be far from over. The Deputy Collector said mutation officials will check the nature of the property in question even if the vendor in the instant case is an OCI and not a foreign national. Saturnino has attached a document issued by the office of Senior Town Planner, TCP, stating that the area in question falls in settlement zone. The Dy Collector, Revenue, however, maintained that all land in Goa is agricultural unless converted as per law.
