MARGAO: In an interesting development, the Supreme Court stayed the order passed by the High Court of Bombay at Goa with regard to the disqualification of Loutolim Sarpanch Inacio Fernandes.
A Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh passed a stay order on October 29, against the order of the High Court.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
In the order, the Apex Court has stated that the learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the disqualification in terms of Section 10 (f) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 cannot be said to have been incurred by the petitioner (Inacio) as there was a subsisting lease agreement which commences from October 6, 1993 with an automatic renewal clause every 11 months. His submission thus is that if the interpretation given in the impugned judgment is accepted, then it would amount to the petitioner giving up his rights as a lease which is subsisting and not post this election.
It may be recalled that the High Court had passed an order on October 1, disqualifying Sarpanch of Loutolim Panchayat Inacio, after former sarpanch Franky Monteiro filed a petition seeking his disqualification under the Goa Panchayat Raj Act.
Monteiro had submitted that the sarpanch took two shops on lease from the Loutolim Panchayat where there was a contract between him and the panchayat, and hence he had a direct monetary interest in the contract, thus inviting disqualification under Section 10 (f) of the Act.
