Porvorim: The Goa State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday referred two crucial legislations – Goa (Verification of Tenants) Bill, 2021 and Goa Preservation of Trees (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – to Select Committee after this was resolved unanimously by the House.
Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, who had introduced both the Bills on Monday, decided to refer them to the Select Committee for detailed study and bring it before the House.
The Opposition benches raised concern over the Goa Preservation of Trees (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which proposes setting up of State-level Tree Authority – a single apex body that will act as a principal advisor for protection, preservation, and conservation of trees.
Referring to certain amendments, Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat and Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte pointed out that the amendments make the authority toothless with restricted powers. They said that the amendment proposes that the authority be a mere advisory body to the government, having no powers to act.
The Opposition demanded that the amendments related to the duties of the authority may be withdrawn or the Bill be referred to the Select Committee.
Failing to respond, the Chief Minister agreed to refer the Bill to the Select Committee, under his chairmanship.
The Select Committee will comprise the Leader of the Opposition, MLAs Rohan Khaunte, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Alina Saldanha, Glenn Ticlo, and Jayesh Salgaonkar, as members.
The Goa (Verification of Tenants) Bill, 2021 was also referred to the Select Committee that too will be headed by the Chief Minister.
As per the Bill, landlords who fail to collect and submit information about their tenants would be jailed for six months along with a fine up to Rs 10,000.
The Bill makes it mandatory for landlords to collect and verify the details of the persons occupying their premises on rent or any other consideration, from a security point of view.
The Leader of the Opposition, MLAs Sudin Dhavalikar, Rohan Khaunte and Glen Ticlo are the members of this Select Committee.
