PANJIM: In an embarrassment to the state government, the outgoing Governor B V Wanchoo has sent back the Goa (Abolition of Proprietorships, Titles and Grants of Lands) Bill, 2014, loosely referred as a evacuee property bill, to the government without his assent stating that the bill was drafted in a“hurry”. The governor indicated that the bill seemed like a “cut and paste” job with certain sections taken from broadly similar legislations elsewhere.
Importantly, the bill was not sent back to the assembly but to the Chief Minister’s Office, because the outgoing governor felt that “perhaps the chief minister would want to himself study the bill and see if it really conveyed what the government wanted to convey” So in short without saying so in so many words, Raj Bhavan has told the government that it didn’t quite apply its mind and did a hurried job on the bill.
In a conversation with four journalists of two publications, including Herald, and one local cable TV channel on Sunday, Wanchoo said that the bill, that was sent to his office for assent, was returned back to the chief minister nearly 20 days back informing that the bill does not intend what the government intended to do with it.
Upon his request, the news was embargoed till he left the state on Monday.
The bill was passed in the Assembly session held in March to solve the Mayem evacuee property crisis. The bill sought to abolish the rights of the landlords over the evacuee properties that were acquired from the Portuguese government.
The now former Governor, Wanchoo said that he took time to study the bill as he was not able to comprehend it properly. “I wanted to observe all due courtesies and therefore spoke in length with the chief minister before returning back,” he said.
“What I told him is that the bill seems to have been prepared in a hurry. Hence it is very important for the state government to look at the bill to ensure that the bill conveyed what government intentions were,” Wanchoo explained.
The now former governor said that the bill appeared to be a “cut and paste” job with certain sections taken from similar bills of other states. He also pointed that Raj Bhavan received several representations from the public who raised concern that the bill was drafted in such a way that it seemed the government could take over any property it wanted including private land.
“I feel that the bill failed to place the government intentions properly,” he added.
While the act abolishes all rights of the landlords ( of evacuee property) over the land that will henceforth vest with the government, the landlords have a right only to claim compensation. The amount of compensation will be decided by the district collector. Many felt that there was a lack of clarity on whether the government meant just evacuee property or any property.
Responding to the recent objection raised by the Portuguese government on the governments’ decision, Wanchoo said that “The Portuguese government objection has no relevance as India is a sovereign country and it has powers to do what it thinks is the law of the land and hence no consultation is required with the government”.
Portugal in May had sought to know from Indian envoy Jitendra Nath Misra in Lisbon about the Goa government’s decision to solve the issue. The Portuguese government felt that India should abide by the provisions of the treaty signed on March 14, 1975, which provides for solving property disputes concerning both the countries through mutual consent.
