What is an Alvara?
Alvara is a Portuguese word for “Order” or “Grant” and is synonymous with the word “Sanad”. An Alavra was an order bestowing certain rights of an agricultural or non-agricultural land on an individual or firm. The Order could be revoked, modified or relinquished. For example, Messr Timblo and Irmacs Ltd was granted an Alvara (leasehold rights) in a mine known as Gunem Dongor in Salginem of Sangue Taluka under Alvara No 131/1953, which they relinquished in 1962.
However, in Goa, Alvara is referred to as a lease granted on cultivated and uncultivated land under the Decree No. 3602 which was issued by the Portuguese in 1917. But the Alvara is only a provisional allotment. Once the lease was granted, the leaseholder was obligated to cultivate the land for the next ten years and pay the “foro” or lease amount. The cultivated land can only be granted for a fixed period with the obligation that the grantee will improve the land within the time fixed under the law (Article 33 of Decree).
The lease agreement provided for cancellation of the lease for non-compliance of the conditions such as the land being kept fallow without cultivation, non-payment of the land rent called ‘foro’ fixed in each case, etc.
History of the Alvara land
“Before the Portuguese, all the land in Goa was either privately into the Gavkars. When the Portuguese came, they retained the Gavkari system which eventually became known as Communidade. They would charge tax from private owners and Communidades only for protection and not as rent of the land, as in the case of the British system. But there was land that was not occupied, maybe because the people who were living in those villages left the village after a war. The Portuguese government was not earning any revenue from that land so, instead of setting up Communidades in those villages, claimed proprietorship of the land and leased it out by granting an Alvara under the Decree. The Alvara was a provisional grant which had to be returned after three generations. Later the Portuguese realised their mistake and had suggested that the Communidades have to be created in those villages”, explained Advocate Andre Pereira
What happened after 1961?
When Goa was annexed in 1961 by the Republic of India, the Bandodkar Government was interested in granting rights to the agricultural tenants. Alvara holders were not exactly landlords neither were they tenants, therefore, the issue of Alvara was virtually forgotten.
In 1964, the Government of Goa, Daman and Diu prepared to form a committee which prepared a document titled Report of Goa Land Reforms Commission. Interestingly, the report states that the government lands have been leased to private parties under two systems. The first is Concessao Provisoria under which 6 Hectares of land can be given out for 10 years to any villager for cultivation and the lease can be converted into an aframento. The second system is Afremento which the government can lease out 20 Hectares of land on long-term lease. For all practical purposes, the rights of the landholders under this system are permanent.
How did the Commission miss out on the Alvara land? The Commission had all the data of the land under cultivation during that time so it’s not possible that the Commission left out the Alvara land during their research. It could be assumed that the Commission considered the Alvara land falls under the Concessao Provisoria (Provisional Concession).
In its report, the commission had pointed out that many lands leased by it under Concessao Provissoria or Aforamento have been neglected or are not cultivated and present. They had recommended that the Government should examine whether such lands should not be resumed and allotted to landless persons and also investigate the reasons why the lessees have not been able to cultivate the lands properly. Obviously, the Government never conducted this investigation. Because of this, the government is unable to determine whether the Alvara holders fulfilled their primary obligation of cultivating the land.
The Decree was repealed by the Land Revenue Code (LRC), 1968 on 01 March 1971 but the code provided that the repeal was not to affect anything done or any action taken, including leases granted under the Decree No. 360 2 of 1917. Thereafter “The Goa Land Revenue (Modification and Regularisation of Grants under Decree No. 3602 dated 24.11.1917) Act, 2007”, was enacted which came into force on 25 April 2007. Under the Act all grants under the Decree No. 3602 from 01 March 1971, were deemed to be Class-II occupancy grants under the LRC, thereby restricting them from selling or transferring the land. The LRC was amended to empower the Collector to regularise such cases.
What should have been done?
“If the land originally belonged to the Gavkars, it was the government’s duty to restore the Comunidades in those villages,” says Adv Andre Pereira. Article 648 of Code of Communidades stated that The Government may reconstitute wherever possible and convenient, the Comunidades which have ceased to exist or promote the creation of new Comunidades.
Daman and Diu followed a different approach. In the case of Diu, they enacted the Goa, Daman & Diu Abolition of Proprietorship of Lands in Diu Act, 1971 wherein all titles, including those granted under Alvara were abolished and the transferred to the Central Government. The Act re-granted the land to the proprietor (including the Alvara leaseholder) of the land as an Occupant who is liable to pay land revenue.
Because of this early intervention, they do not face the problem Goa faces today. Since this was not done, Goa has lost Crores worth of land revenue as rent in the last few decades and not the issue has snowballed into a possible multi-crore scam.
Is Alvara a Scam and/or land grab?
In August 2018 Nilesh Cabral asked a very important question, “the stand of the Government in cases of illegal sale of Alvara Land by way of Agreement for Sale etc; and the details of the action the Government intends to take in such cases of illegal sale?”. The Revenue Minister Rohan Kaunte’s shocking reply was that “If such instances are brought to notice the action in terms of section 14(3) of the Goa Land Revenue Code, 1968 will be initiated.”
Was Kaunta really unaware of any illegal sale of Alvara land? In the 2015 CAG report, the Comptroller Auditor General listed 11 Alvara land that was sold without government permission. Audit checked the ROR of the deeds and found that in six cases of the Alvara lands, the name of private persons was mentioned as occupant and not that of the Government, which could have prevented mutation. In all these cases the Alvara land was partitioned and sold as plots.
For example, Survey number 137/1, 138/0 and 140/1-A having a total area of 1.9 lakh sqmts were sold by one Srinivas Pai Anglo, an Alvara leaseholder. The new owner has made sold 120 plots from Survey Number 137/1 alone of which around 70 have been mutated and other 50 have been partitioned into plots with their own unique Survey numbers. Interestingly after selling most of the land, one Roshan Karekar has applied for regularisation of the land bearing Survey Number 137/1 on 4/6/18 and one Pranav Prakash has applied for regularisation of land bearing Survey Numbers 138/0 and 140/1-A on 18/6/2018.
In the other cases, the Mamlatdars mutated the Form 1 & 14 even though the Government’s name or “Alvara land was mentioned”. The CAG also pointed out the case of Alvara lands in Mandrem admeasuring 1.9 lakh square meters which purchased of Rs 15 per sqmt (Rs 28.5 lakhs) and sold off for 47 times the purchase price at a total value of Rs 13.5 Crores
Another scam is the sale of reverted land. Many Alvara landholders reverted their land to the government but the government did not keep track of this land. According to North Goa collector, in 2015, 334 Alvara land was reverted but Survey Department had a list of only 322 such lands. The CAG found 43,600 sqmts of land that was reverted during the period March 1973 to February 1981 were sold between 1992 to 2011. The Government could have acted solely on the CAG report but instead has turned a blind eye.
Goof-up in Form 1 & 14
The 2007 Act had provided some protection to the Alvara lands by declaring all the properties as Class II. This allowed the occupants to peacefully occupy and cultivate the land with the only restriction of transfer of land.
But the government had made one major goof-up. In Form 1 & 14, the name of Government of Goa is shown as occupant and the name of the Alvara leaseholder is shown as encroacher in other rights. “How can the Government of Goa call itself an occupant? The names of the Alvara landholders should have been shown as class II occupants but instead, they have been shown as encroachers. If they are encroachers on the land this means they should not have been given voting cards. Thus the people who they voted for like MLAs like Vishvajeet Rane should be disqualified”, said Advocate Andre Pereira.
According to the Constitution, all the land belongs to the Government, therefore, the Government of Goa does not and should not have to grant itself rights of Occupant. Unfortunately, because of this goof-up and the lack of understanding of the Alvara system, there is a lot of confusion over the legitimacy and perpetuity of rights of the Alvara holders.
New Twist to an Old Scam
By amending the LRC in 2017, the Government opened a pandora’s box of land grab. The new amendment opens up agricultural land for real estate construction, just like the Regional Plan 2021. Under the new amendments, anyone can apply for Class 1 Occupancy rights of an Alvara land.
When an application is received, the Collector has to investigate and prepare a report on whether the applicant has a definitive title over the land or not. If the applicant has a definitive title, the report is sent to the Government who may direct the Collector to issue a certificate of confirmation of the definite title.
But what happens if the Collector rejects the application? The applicant then gets 30 days to approach the government to apply for regularisation of the land as Class II occupant.
Considering the sheer number of Alvara leases in existence, anyone can falsely lay claim over Alvara land and obtain Class 1 Occupancy rights where the applicant can then sell the land.
Those who are against granting Class I Occupant status to Alvara landholders claim that most of these people will not be able to prove that they have a definite title. They claim that at many places especially in Tiswadi, Alwara holders are being funded by real estate firms, many of which are backed by politicians, to get Class 1 status. Once Class 1 Occupant status is granted, the occupant is obligated to sell the land back to the real estate firm. Reportedly, agreements for sale have already been signed between some Alvara holder and private firms.
Why would a Class II
Occupant want to become a Class I Occupant?
According to the CAG report, more than 1661 lakh sq meters of land was leased under the Decree. This is area 7 times the size of Panjim City. If the average price of land in Goa is Rs1000, the total cost of land is more than Rs 16000 Crores.
In an LAQ, MLA Alexio Lourenco asked for the class wise list of all Alwara property leaseholders along with the survey number/subdivision number of the property and the area of the property, state the details for each year since 2015 till date as regards which of these properties amongst these were being cultivated by the leaseholders. Kaunte reply was that “Class wise list is not available with the government.”
In another LAQ reply, the Revenue Department submitted a list of only 701 names of Alvara leaseholders, even though there are 7871 leases according to the CAG.
Reginald also asked on what is the basis on which the Government is giving away lakhs of square meters of Government land to leaseholders when the definition of lease implies it has to be returned to the owner i.e. the Government?”. The reply given was “The Government is not giving away lakhs of squares meters of Government land to leaseholder.”
The reply further states that “The Government by understanding the demand of the Alwara holder has carried out an amendment in the Land Revenue Code providing for confirmation of title given to people under the Decree No. 3602, if the person was given the definitive title as per the said Decree. Further, the occupant to whom the lease hold right have been given under the said Decree have been asked to get their grant regularized as per the said amendment. Under provision of section 24 (4) the powers have been given to Government to reclassify occupancy Class-II land to occupancy Class-I.”
In other words, even though they are denying it, the Government is giving away lakhs of square meters of agricultural land which will eventually end up as concrete jungles, via a complex process that is beyond the comprehension of ordinary Goans.
