The river and the forests and the beach over yonder. Tiracol could well be the grandest place on earth. For the village fighting to retain their land and their forest, losing this fight would mean , that their village and all that went with it, would be surrendered de facto, to Leading Hotels which is selling residential villas.
And this is fight the villagers chose to take on. They were the Davids in a fight against Goliath, with the government clearly on the side of Goliath
Fighting to protect their land, few villagers under St Anthony Tenants and Mundkar’s Association (SATMA) approached High Court in December 2014 through its president Diago Rodrigues, alleging fraudulent purchase of agriculture land by the project proponent- M/s Leading Hotels Ltd- and subsequently converting the same into non-agricultural purpose.
SATMA got a major support and backing when Goa Foundation in July 2015 filed fresh public interest litigation (PIL) in the case challenging government approval granted to the project- which is proposed to come up at a total area of nine lakh sq mtrs. In the very same month, the High Court issued an interim stay on the proposed project while allowing the project proponent to construct two model villas in an area of around 700 square metres. The order is still in force.
The final hearing in the matter commenced in January this year, wherein the division bench comprising Justices F M Reis and Justice Nutan Sardesai asked the petitioners to show them evidence that the lands taken over for the project were tenanted agricultural lands and how the judgement passed by the Court in the Pilerne case applies. It said that if the petitioners made out a case on these points, the sale deeds would automatically lapse.
The petitioners in the PIL Writ Petition now being finally heard by the High Court have produced evidence of huge payments made to some villagers in Tiracol to surrender their tenancy status. In exchange for the payments, these tenants filed affidavits stating they had never cultivated the land and neither had their ancestors. The affidavits were used by Leading Hotels to move civil courts and get negative declarations.
The matter has now been adjourned for final order; with the State government proposing name of deputy collector Dharbandora Agnelo Fernandes to conduct fresh inquiry to ascertain whether lands, which is under dispute, were tenanted as of November 1990. The name has been accepted by the High Court, which is expected to pronounce its order next week.
The petitioners have informed Court about the project proponent’s proposal to occupy 90 percent of the tenanted agricultural lands of the village of Tiracol.
The petitioners pointed out, “the total area of the village of Tiracol is 13,84,000 sq.mts. Four sale deeds signed between Leading Hotels and the Khalaps (of Mapusa) transfer 12,18,589 sq.mts to the company. Of the balance, Government of Goa (through Tiracol Fort) owns 1,50,582 sq.mts. Sy.No.16/1 which houses the present Tiracol village settlement (which comprises mostly mundkarial houses) is also sold to the company. This means practically the entire village of Tiracol has been rendered homeless. The entire environment outside Sy.No.16/1 has been taken away from them and their use”.
“The project is proposed to be set up on an area of 9,90,000 sq. mts, (Sy. Nos .2 -13) which is three- fourth of the total area of the village. In effect, the Resp.No.8 (Project proponent) claims it has purchased the entire village of Tiracol, an unprecedented appropriation of an entire village taking place in Goa,” the petitioners informed Court.
The State Government has already acquired Sy. No. 1 and part of Sy. No 2 for Tiracol fort tourism development. Further there is also a proposal to construct a bridge on Sy. Nos 14 & 15 for the villagers.
“The petitioners have submitted that the approvals for the project have been knowingly granted by the authorities like deputy collector, mamletdar, town and country planning despite knowledge that they would be in explicit violation of the provisions of the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1974, the Goa Land Use Act, 1991 and several judgements and orders of this Hon’ble Court. Thus, a fraud has been committed on these two Acts not just by the respondent company wishing to set up the golf course project, but also by those who have enabled it to obtain permissions for the project in violation of the law,” it stated.
As per the the Goa Land Use (Regulation) Act, 1991, which was effective from November 1990, any land that is tenanted cannot be diverted for purposes other than agriculture.
The main reliefs sought by the petitioners were seeking cancellation of the sale deed that transferred land to Leading Hotels and quashing the permission granted by statutory authorities for the project.
