PANJIM: Tensions continue to run high at Siridao over the attempts to topple the Sarpanch of Siridao-Pale Panchayat Jagdish Gauns.
On Thursday, various local and political leaders gheraoed the Additional Director of Panchayats Umakant Karkonkar for granting a stay to the earlier no-confidence motion that had been passed last Friday against Gauns.
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The activists alleged that the actions of Karkonkar were akin to the murder of democracy. They criticised the holding of an ex-parte hearing where a stay had been granted and defended that the no-confidence motion was proper despite “undemocratic and unsuccessful attempts to sabotage it”.
It may be recalled that on July 30, the day the no-confidence motion was to be held, the panchayat’s office was locked by the police on the grounds that a robbery had allegedly taken place inside the premises of the office. This issue was also discussed in the Assembly with allegations being made against the MLA of St Andre, who denied the same. The Chief Minister had also assured to intervene.
After high drama, the meeting to hold the no-confidence motion was nonetheless held outside the panchayat office. Here, the motion was passed against the sarpanch.
The panch members that had moved the no-confidence motion and their supporters celebrated the ouster of the sarpanch and were waiting for the Panchayat Department to convene the meeting to appoint the new sarpanch.
They had even met the Director of Panchayat and were given the assurance that the meeting would be held on August 9. However, given that till date no such notice had been served and they were growing concerned about further attempts to thwart this process.
Meanwhile, Sarpanch Gauns moved a petition before the Director of Panchayat alleging that the procedure through which the no-confidence motion was conducted was illegal and had requested directions to be issued to the panchayat secretary to nullify the proceedings. Gauns submitted that he had filed a complaint on July 30 itself and pointed out various irregularities in the manner in which the no-confidence motion was conducted given that the books that contain the minutes of the meeting as well the stamps were inside the locked panchayat.
He also made allegations against the panchayat secretary and the observer.
Gauns also said he was shocked to discover from the peon of the panchayat that unknown persons had put an extra lock to the door/shutter of the panchayat office and suspecting theft, he had approached the Agassaim Police Station and was awaiting police action against the person who had put that additional lock to the doors of the panchayat and also to investigate if any theft had been committed.
Regarding the no-confidence motion held outside the premises of the village panchayat, Gauns said the resolution passed is in violation of the law that went beyond the time limit prescribed in the notice and that the said resolution was not written in the proceedings minutes book maintained by the panchayat.
Gauns further cited the law to show how the proceedings should have been held and why it was illegal.
While this was Gauns assertion, the opposition that met the Additional Panchayat Director questioned how the stay had been granted. These included Rama Kankonkar, Ramrao Wagh, Panch Antonio Afonso and others.
They alleged it was done to favour the sarpanch and the MLA and have vowed to approach the court if the issue is not resolved. They also referred to assurances given by the Chief Minister and also accused the police of deliberately trying to stop the then no-confidence motion and claimed that there were no proper investigations into the alleged robbery.
On Thursday, addressing the media persons, they recalled how former Chief Minister (late) Manohar Parrikar had in 2012 said the present St Andre MLA would never get a BJP ticket and yet he is a BJP MLA today.
They accused the MLA of interfering in the no-confidence motion process, a charge the MLA had previously rejected.
They further said the BJP government has not learnt the lessons from their attempts to manipulate municipal reservations in the past that had to be rectified following strictures issued by the Supreme Court.
