Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) will on January 25 pronounce judgment into a petition filed by Senior Food and Drugs Official Iva Fernandes over harassment meted out to her by Department of Food and Drugs.
A full Bench of the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) comprising former High Court Judge U V Bakre besides retired District Judges Desmond D’Costa and Pramod Kamat on Tuesday concluded hearing final arguments into the officer’s complaint. The harassment allegedly began after she raided the Wholesale Fish Market at Margao and detected formalin laced fish on July 12, 2018.
Fernandes represented by Advocate Aires Rodrigues submitted that FDA Director Jyoti Sardesai had very high-handedly persecuted Fernandes for having “upheld the law against the fish mafia and not succumbing to external and political pressures”.
He also pointed out that the Director had kept Fernandes out from all her routine duties and from meetings held with the Food safety enforcement staff.
He further argued that Fernandes as part of the harassment meted out to her was denied her rightful Leave Travel Concession (LTC) by rejecting at the last minute her application for permission to leave the headquarters thus causing her a financial loss of Rs 34,592 on the travel tickets bought. The Commission, on hearing the submissions made by the complainant and the department, will pass its verdict on January 25.
