Are Panchayats really powerless against Goa's real estate lobby????? (Soter)

-Soter D'Souza

The plot for the people of Carmona against the Raheja project appears to be once again getting lost in emotions, rhetoric and games played by political as well as economic opportunists. We cannot forget that Goa’s Assembly elections are expected to be declared over a year and half from now. While the line towed in defence of the Villa Panchayat’s actions by the Deputy Sarpanch is absolutely unacceptable and disheartening for those advocating devolution of powers to the Panchayat Institutions, one cannot also ignore the reality that all the forces diving into the Carmona people’s struggle may not necessarily have come with clean hands. If we detest the presence of ‘dalals’ in Panchayat Bodies who facilitate the plunder of the village by real estate developers, there are also ‘dalals’ concealed within the Gram Sabhas who exploit these forums for blackmailing applicants for construction permissions. The recent incident in a village of Bardez is a classic example of how the Panchayat Body discovered its communal powers to deny a Chreistian educational society the necessary approvals for constructing a college in the locality most likely at the behst of some casino and hotel lobby interests. And so everyone seems to be ducking a question as to whether other housing complexes were allowed smooth sailing in Carmona village from the time the anti-Raheja struggle began.

Whether it is the people’s struggle on the Regional Plan or against the gated-housing societies emerging in villages, what gets attacked are the symptoms and not the root cause. Time and again experts have been pointing out that the obsolete Town and Country Planning Act along with a compromised Panchayati Raj Act are the root cause of so much havoc across the villages of Goa. But lessons do not seem to get learnt by people and opportunists continue fishing in the pond of public ignorance. If people lose the battle in courts it is either because of such deficient laws or half-baked defence arguments. It is the loop holes in laws which get exploited in real estate. When the going gets tough for the builder cartel all that gets done is the dilution of the building rules or enactment of another conflicting law without any rationale or scientific basis. It is also public experience that when it comes to real estate licensing by Panchayats, finding a honest and upright Elected Panchayat Representative (EPR) who will stand up for the people would be like ‘looking for a needle in a hay stack’. Taking advantage of the confusion created by contradictory laws, the standard response from EPRs to cover up their omissions and commissions is to throw up their hands with a claim that the Body is not competent to reject construction permissions which have been cleared by government agencies.

The people are perfectly right in expecting EPRs to defend the interests of the village and not act as agents of the government agencies. Whether it is out of convenient amnesia or genuine ignorance that such ridiculous defence arguments get put forth by a Dy. Sarpanch and other EPRs, it needs to be understood that neither the Goa Panchayat Raj Act and Rules nor the Town and Country Planning Act can supersede the letter and spirit of the Preamble, Article 40 and Articles 243-243O of the Constitution of India. Nothing prevents the Panchayat Body from subjecting such faulty and deficient laws to scrutiny in appropriate courts. The status of Panchayat Institutions has been amply pointed out in a historic Supreme Court Judgement delivered in a dispute between Village Panchayat of Calangute and the Addl. Director of Panchayats and Others. The SC emphasised in no uncertain terms that “Parliament has ensured that the Panchayats would no longer perform the role of simply executing the programs and policies evolved by the political executive of the State.” Further it held that “The conceptualization of the Village Panchayat as a unit of self-government having the responsibility to promote social justice and economic development and as a representative of the people within its jurisdiction must be borne in mind while interpreting the laws enacted by the State which seek to define the ambit and scope of the powers and the functions of Panchayats at various levels.”

Will the EPRs stop playing games and represent the people by whom they have been elected? Will the Gram Sabhas invest their energy in tackling the root of the problem rather then dancing to the music played by opportunists masquerading as saviours of the people.