Transparency in departments: Modify legislations, public tells ad hoc panel

14 Jun 2009, 0138 hrs IST, TNN
MARGAO: Chairman of the ad hoc committee on law, MLA Francis D'Souza, accepted a suggestion that necessary modifications should be made to different
legislations inorder to clear doubts about the functioning of various departments. The departments questioned included panchayats, town and country planning, as also "cases being heard by department superiors against orders passed by the departments themselves". The observation was in response to the secretary of Ganv Ghor Rakhon Manch, Kim Miranda, who pointed out that on page 128 of the policy document of the Draft Regional Plan 2021 it is necessary for the government to make modifications as necessary in the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, Municipal Act, 1968, Corporation of City of Panaji Act, 2002 and Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 to ensure that the process planned for the formulation, processing and implementation of the regional plan and its settlement plans fall within the process recommended by the Task Force. "It should be noted that as of now, the entire regional plan process is proceeding outside of the space of law, making the process both arbitrary and open to challenge,'' she noted. Another issue pertaining to acquisition of government land was discussed wherein J Mascarenhas, a social activist from Cuncolim, said that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 should be amended as it was outdated. When land acquired for a specific purpose was not used, he demanded that it should be returned to the owner. The committee also took note of his suggestion that Goa being a small state, instead of acquiring private land for projects, government land could be utilised for the said purpose. He also wanted the government to look at the shopkeepers' law for various vagaries and wanted the government to set up a department of justice. The Land Registration
Act also came in for severe criticism wherein Form 1 and 14 were being used for random registration, without cross-checking the title of the documents. Mascarenhas disclosed that the forms were a case of presumptive records and the authorities should actually call for title documents instead of land survey papers. Sanjeev Raiturcar of citizens' working centre pointed out how property documents at the sub-registrar's office were missing from 1935 to 1940, as also the eight books on property records which actually made all transactions illegal without a thorough check on the owners of properties. He wanted the government to upgrade the value of land that had multiplied over the years so that the state treasury could benefit from the revenue earned by way of stamp duty.
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