90,000 sqm of govt property in Dona Paula ‘vanish’? (Herald)

How can 90,000 sqm of govt property in Dona Paula ‘vanish’? Order resurvey, govt urged October 26, 2013 Mystery of the ‘missing’ land GERARD DE SOUZA PANJIM: Earlier this year, an innocuous-looking letter was submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office. The two-page letter, however, made some very serious allegations and had one request ~ that the government conduct an inquiry into where and how 89,045.43 sqm of land acquired by the Government of Goa nearly 40 years ago in a prime location in the lucrative property market of Dona Paula, had disappeared. The author of the letter, SS Dalvi, a reputed chartered accountant in Panjim, is not giving up on his demand. He is shocked, he says, that nearly 90,000 sqm of land and that too in Dona Paula clearly shown to be acquired decades ago by the government and valued at approximately Rs 400 crore at today’s prices cannot be found. The story begins way back on 28 June 1965 when the Administration of the Union territories of Goa, Daman and Diu issued a notification published in the Government Gazette (Boletim Official) of 8 July 1965 and through an order began the process for acquiring an “approximate area” of 50 hectares of “a compact block of land situated on the Dona Paula plateau” for “the public purpose viz. for construction of office buildings and police quarters”. It is from this massive land parcel that the approximately 90,000 sqm of land has supposedly vanished. Four years later on 28 March 1969 the Sub-Divisional Officer at Panjim passed the award of a total of 54.0785 hectares to the government of Goa, Daman and Diu. Included in this 50-odd hectare was a patch of land 89,045.43 sqm falling in cadastral survey number 785 which was acquired. Today, in Form I and XIV of survey number 249/1-A (new number given to part of old Portuguese cadastral Survey No. 785) of the Taleigao Village Panchayat a total of 82,250 sqm stands registered in the names of Clothildes Fernandes (since deceased) and Joe Mathias and on it stands the posh, under-construction mega project which is the Mathias Ocean Park Residency which is advertised as “a sprawling 82,000 sqm property in Dona Paula… a delightful example of luxury and creative planning.” Dalvi has asked the administration to order a resurvey of the land acquired originally to trace where exactly the government land has gone. “Even if we accept that this land belongs to its current owners, the government should make it its priority to investigate and tell the people of Goa where its own land has gone as previous administrations seem to have colluded in the matter,” Dalvi told Herald. “A case like this should be taken up on priority basis. Even if there is an element of doubt that it is government land, it should be investigated. This can’t be treated like any other civil matter,” Dalvi said. He filed an application before the court of the Deputy Collector at Panjim that he be made an intervenor in the case filed by the State through PWD Executive Engineer WD-I, Div I at Panjim (Case No. LRC/PNJ/Re-survey/2/08), seeking re-survey of the properties acquired by the State admeasuring 5,51,711.75 sqm vide government Gazette notification dated 27/04/1968 published in the Gazette dated 02/05/1968. He especially wants a re-survey of property under survey No. 249/1, 2 and 1-A, B, C and D 254/1, 2 and 260/0, road and survey No. 250/1 of village panchayat Taleigao be ordered. “All these properties are subject matter of that land acquisition and belonging to the State, be measured and necessary re-survey be carried out before passing any order,” Dalvi stated in his application. His application, however, was not allowed by the DC following which he approached the Administrative Tribunal which ordered a stay on the proceedings pending disposal of the appeal filed by Dalvi on the Deputy Collector’s order. In a judgment passed by the then Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Officer of Panjim Vandana Chikersal on the 22nd of February 1988 on the basis of a petition filed by the Late Clothildes Fernandes, Chikersal ruled that Fernandes be made co-owner of Survey No. 249/1 along with the Government of Goa. Hitherto the government was the sole owner of the land by virtue of it being acquired, as was admitted by Fernandes in her application. Chikersal called a meeting to adjudicate on Fernandes’ application including a government representative represented by the PWD. The PWD official submitted a plan showing part of the area acquired by the government out of survey number 249/1. He showed it as the area occupied by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) for its quarters. The applicant Fernandes did not dispute the claim of the government with regard to this area, which was acquired to the North of the Dona Paula-Bambolim Road. As to the remaining portion of the plot under Survey No. 249/1, which Fernandes was claiming and where Mathias Ocean Park Residency currently stands, the advocate appearing on behalf of the government admitted that the government had no claim with regard to this portion and fully admitted the claim of the applicant for ownership of this place. Based on that submission by the government, the deputy collector passed an order making the Fernandes to be a co-owner along with the government of section 249/1. “Therefore it is clear that the applicant is also entitled to a part of the survey No 249/1 as owner... The application of the applicant is partly allowed. The survey number should be corrected accordingly,” Vandana Chikersal decreed. Subsequently a separate survey No. 249/1-A was created handing over 83,160 sqm to Late Clothildes Fernandes. She earlier had just 937 sqm of land under survey No. 249/2. What’s interesting, however, is that Fernandes had made this application to the court after about 18 years after the land was acquired and compensation awarded. It bears recall that a complaint was filed by Nelson Cabral, a resident of Taleigao, at the Panjim police station, alleging that Joe Mathias and Others had illegally occupied government land at Dona Paula bearing survey No. 249/1-A and an FIR was registered against Joe Mathias and Clothildes Fernandes. However, the case file was later shut as “C” summary (neither true nor false) after the police who initially made a very strong case seemingly scuttled their own investigations. It was alleged by the police during the course of the investigations, that at that meeting before the deputy collector Vandana Chikersal, the PWD representative showed the wrong map and plans ~ the ones of the land handed over the NIO for quarters and not those which showed the other land, claimed by Fernandes. They had also alleged that Fernandes based her petition for inclusion of her name on the basis of a forged document. These charges however were not substantiated by police that filed its final report as C Summary stating that there “is no evidence to substantiate allegations against the accused persons that they have illegally grabbed the government land which was acquired of office buildings and police quarters. The orders passed by the deputy collector are supported by documentary evidence of title in favour of C Fernandes and there is no reason to doubt the correctness of the said order. Besides, the said order has not been challenged by the government and therefore there is no reason to prosecute any of the authorities and the accused as regards the illegal conspiracy. The investigation has not revealed any forgery by the accused.” This came from the same DSP who formulated the initial charges of the FIR, in his final report. The police’s surprising volte-face left many questions unanswered, the most important of which is the one asked by Dalvi ~ If police and the government claim that Survey No. 249/1-A isn’t government land, then where is the government land? Goa waits for answers. Documents that disappeared The systematic disappearance of documentary evidence related to the land, showing its ownership as belonging to the government, has raised many an eyebrow: •The Plan as per section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act is not traceable and missing. This plan showed the award of land duly measured and demarcated by the Directorate of Land Survey. •In the month of August 2007 the mamlatdar of Tiswadi taluka informed Dinamati Gomes (resident of Taleigao Plateau) that the mutation case bearing No. 920 of property bearing No. 249/1-A in respect of Joe Mathias and Others is not traceable in their office. •On 25th July 2008 mamlatdar of Tiswadi taluka informed F A Almeida (a resident of Dona Paula) that the documents in mutation case No. 920 in respect of survey No. 249/1-A were not traceable in the office of the talathi at Taleigao. •On the same day the mamlatdar of Tiswadi informed E S S Almeida (another resident of Dona Paula) that the mutation in respect of survey No. 260/1-A and Survey No. 249/1-B situated at Dona Paula in Taleigao village was not traceable in their office of talathi of Taleigao. •The talathi of Taleigao Gurudas Nagvenkar, who carried out the mutation formalities could not produce the mutation file or state its whereabouts. “The said Gurudas Nagvenkar was arrested in this case on 24/01/2009 and thoroughly interrogated. The search of his house was also carried out, but the file was not found. So also a search warrant was obtained from the JMFC court, Panjim and search of the records of village panchayat was carried out but the file was not found. He was thereafter released on conditional bail,” the police reported in their final closure report. http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Main%20Page%20News/How-can-90-000-sqm-of-govt-property-in-Dona-Paula-lsquo-vanish-rsquo-Order-resurvey-govt-urged/81178.html