'Despite objections from revenue, Goa went ahead with land ownership bill'

Panaji: The Goa revenue and finance departments had red flagged the controversial bill pertaining to 'sons-of-the-soil' and said it was "not administratively approved" and may have "unforeseen wider ramification", before it was passed by the state Assembly last month, the government's response to an RTI query has revealed. The state Assembly last month passed the Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, 2021, that provides a mechanism to grant the ownership rights to 'bhumiputras' (sons-of-the soil) who are living in small housing units in the state for more than 30 years.

The legislation in its present form drew flak from various quarters, including opposition parties, following which Sawant had said it would be renamed as the 'Bhumi Adhikarini Bill' and reintroduced during the next Assembly session.

The CM had also said the bill was beneficial to Goans and rubbished suggestions by the opposition parties that it was aimed at pleasing the migrant vote bank. However, documents procured under the Right to Information Act by Goa Congress' RTI cell in-charge Dominic Noronha from the state revenue department last week revealed that Revenue Minister Jeniffer Monserratte and Revenue Secretary Sanjay Kumar had put up a file noting that the bill has "not been administratively approved".

"The Bill has not been administratively approved by the Revenue Minister. The Bill has not been examined throughout and may have unforeseen wider ramification," Kumar said, as per the reply received by the opposition Congress.

The revenue secretary had requested that due to shortage of time, the Bill has not been examined thoroughly and may have unforeseen wider ramification. Hence, considering the impact of the Bill, the same may be published for obtaining public comments, the revenue secretary said in the noting. The issue raised by the Revenue Department and the Revenue Minister needs further examination, Kumar noted, and added that the file is submitted for the perusal and decision of the revenue minister.

The Congress claimed to have also received in the same RTI reply a noting which indicated the minister had warned that the proposed law was faulty on many counts and would "jeoparadise the interests of private owners, government departments, comunidades, devasthans and eco-sensitive zones".