At a seminar on " WHETHER THE GOVERNMENT HAS POWERS TO AMEND THE LAW OF THE COMMUNIDADES " organised by the Association of Componentes of Comunidades (founded in 1995) office at c/o G-5 1st Floor Madhuban Hillview Housing Society Tambdi Matti St Inez Panaji, www.geocities.com/goacommunidades/communidades.htmlthe Institute Menezes Braganza Hall this rainy (outbreak of monsoons( evening at 1630 hrs today 28/5/2006 Sunday)most of the ebthusiastic "gaonkars" shareholder from almost all of the 224 Comunidades in the 10 talukas of both the Velhas and Novas Conquistas of Goa (exluding Sattari where the Comunidade stands abolished) were apprehensive that there was NO CLEAR PLAN OF ACTION on the cards by the organisors to stall yet another Bill introduced in the Goa Legislative Assembly during its last session IN mARCH 2006 ---- an insertion of Article 334 - B (by way of an amendment to Article 334-A )whereby Government of Goa now proposes to acquire large tracts of land belonging to the Comunidades for public purposes. This Bill has since been referred to the Select Committee but would surely pass thro in July/August monsoon session if the Goans do not act now,
For given the mind set of most our 40 legislatures when it comes to "land grab" and past performances of a) the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party since its introduction of the Agricultural Tenancy Act 1964 which gave tenants of communidades "deemed landowners" status (when Comunidades were mere agricultural association of co-operative type and had no landlord status b) the Indian National Congress since 5.1.1985, introduced the Article 334 A where any one with domicile of 25 years annual income of 25,000 and did NOT own any residential area or build site within a radius of 8 kms (as affirmed merely by a sworn affidavit not by documentary evidence or verification) of the Communidade concerned could obtain Communidade land . This has helped ONLY THE NON GOANS mostly bureaucrats and others migrants to the Union Territory and now State since 1987. Subsequent amendements on25.11.1985 reduced the domicile limit to 15 years and the whole process of allocation of land to be completed within six months c) the Bhartiya Janata Party coalition too on 4.7.2001 sought to REGULARISE all ILLEGAL ENCROACHMENTS EXISTING BEFORE 15.6.2000 AND later vide an amendment has enhance the annual income limit to 3,50,000 finally now the latest attempt is by the coalition government d) the Indian National Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Independent combine is the proposed amendment to Code of Communidades 15.4.1961 This Code is still prevalent in Goa post Liberation 19.12.1961 as the State (Union of India) was bound to accept covenants and agreements preceding in terms of Article 295 read with Article 372 (2 ) of the Constitution of India as was well settled following a judgement of the Supreme Court on 9.8.1965 (ref AIR 1966-8-SC--42-446 in WP No 120 of 1965 "conquest and not liberation of Goa" The panel members had this to say: Dr J C Almeida ex Chief Secretary of Govt of Goa -- began his deliberations on a negative note stating that "IT IS TOO LATE NOW EVERYTHING IS OVER " and went on to rabble out the history of the Communidade from 8500 BC (he has to his credit a volumnious treatise on the Comunidades of Goa with statistics of each of the 224 comunidades) which put many in the audience to make up their lost siesta and were found snoozing; it was during his tenure that the Government conceded land to Zuari Industries Ltd (then ZACL), Ciba Geigy and Taj Hotel Aguada invoking article 303 of the Code of Comunidades Adv Bernard D Souza a practicing Advocate spoke of the rampant corruoption in the Communidade Administration and cited an incident at the Admininistrative Tribunal the appellate court on comunidade matters where the judge was brokering a compromise of monetary benefits to the litigant and the opponent as a quid pro qua, so much for ones expectation of justice at the hands of these quasi judicial bodies when it comes to Comunidade land; He sounded positive on averting the proposed amendment 334 A but said that only after the Bill is passed could one consider the forum of appeal in the judiciary; He ended up stating that it was never too late to begin the war to save communidades Mr Percival Noronha ex Grade I officer of the Government of Goa and President of the Friends of Astronomy club began with a story of a Portuguese friend (since expired ) who had predicted a requiem for the Comunidades once the Indians conquered Goa and this came true at a lightening speed when the first act of the MGP CM Dayanand Bandodkar a confirmed mergerist was to introduce the Agricultural Tenancy Act 1964 and confer "deemed tenant" status on the cultivators of land belonging to comunidades when they were components of a co-operative body Mr Floriano Lobo founder member of the Goa Suraj Party and a builder by profession (earlier he was a sea farer (Radio officer) stated that Goans only identity was the Communidades unheard of in the rest of the country. He chided the NRI Goans who regret the smell the feni brew and "xit codi "in lands overseas in Canada Australia USA as their citizens while their own lands in Goa are usurped by the non Goans. He bluntly admitted that Government has no power to amend the Comunidade but political parties in power past and present could not be trusted to do justice to Comunidade. He felt his fledging political party which has a road map to the development of Goa if voted to power could do much what others could not. He however felt that only if the elected representatives are questioned by the voters the things could change for the better. Mr Hector Fernandes, President of the Association gave a detailed treatise on how the Goa Government could not amend the Code of Comunidade He cited a case in Australia Native Title Act of 1993 where an injustice was done to the indigneous commune of Queensland was restored after 250 years for Goa 44 years post liberation is not too late he felt to restore the Comunidades to its erstwhile glory At the outset General Secretary of the Association Andre Antonio Pereira (Adv) also bro-in-law of the present Advocate General of Goa Mr Subodh Kantak bemoaned the maladies that affect the Comunidades. Till date there is no faithful English translation of the Portuguese version of the Code of Comunidades dated 15.4.1961 which perhaps for the first time restored the anomalies to the Code during colonial era. But could not see the light of the day because Goa was then conquered (liberated). He also blamed the components who came only in the months of May to take their "zonos' shares and bothered little of the affairs of the Communidade. There were other myths that the Communidades were only Catholic association this appeared partly true considering that vast of the agricultural land of comunidades were in the Velhas Conquistas but it was also a fact that there were 300 gaoncars from different parts of Bardez who were living in Vengurla Maharashtra Mumbai etc (due to poicy of prosyletisation ). These presentations therefore did not find favour with the audience and at the question answer session demanded concrete plan of action. It was left to Adv Bernado D Souza to answer the volley of questions, and given the deluge of questions following unconvincing replies the moderator -- owner of Literatti who co- organised the function --- had to ask the audience to wait after the sessions to have their individual answers solved. One member questioned the right of the Governor to sit over his file for over three years Another lady member admonished Mr Lobo for his snide comments on women present in the audience (who could not be gaunkars of Comunidade as only the male lineage is considered) when she state that she had single handedely fought over a Chapel place in her comunidade in Tivim. One other questioned the panelists as instead of retrieving land from the tenants under tenancy act one should ensure that the paddy fields left uncultivated should be taken back by the comunidade. Another member felt that the panelists did not deliberate on the subject matter he felt that given the amendments since 1964 and those to section 334-A the Government had already done harm to the Comunidade there is no need of waiting further we need to strike now he added. A minutes silence was held in memomry of activist of the Comunidade and a father figure in the fight for saving the comunidade late Mr Fortunate Menezes. Mr Albano Couto IAS ex bureaucrat making an off the cuff remark too suggested that Comunidades spells ones Goan identity and needs to be preserved for posterity. He also spoke of large funds available from the Central Government for the repairs of bundhs. He warned that if these activities of the Comunidade are not restored and funds returned unused the entire cultivable land would be filled with saline waters. Surprisingly Mr Uday Laximikant Bhembre Adv and panelist of the think tank of the INC did not make his presence as a panelist and no reasons for his absence was announced. Yet another panelist Prof Olivinho Gomes ex Vice Chancellor of Goa University and who has recently authored a beautiful book "The Village Communes of Goa" priced at Rs 400/- under the second Dempo fellowship Vasantrao V Dempo educational Research Foundation did not turn up. When this writer had a teletalk with Mr Gomes he stated that he had already expressed his inability to attend the same owing to a private function marriage of a close friend. It was left to Mr Ashok Mendes Sankhwalkar the President of the Comunidade of Chicalim to assure the audience that his communidade had indeed filed a writ petition in the High Court of Bombay Panaji Bench questioning the legitimacy of the Government to amend the Comunidade WP 54 of 2002 presently being heard. He is confident that the tables will turn against the Government and the sanctity of the Comunidades would be restored. The meeting ended with a two page REPRESENTATION OF GOANS being addressed to the Governor of Goa who is the tutelar head of the Comunidades as envisaged in the code of 1961. Another one page handout on the meaning of Comunidades was also presented. Sidelights of the seminar. @@@ It started half hour late @@@ Many senior citizens gaunkars were seen taking a quick nap as they were sick of the repetitive history of the comunidades @@@ the moderator had a tough time when she rebuked most questioners asking them to be brief in the process she snubbed the main litigant Mr Sankh walkar from explaining his brief to the audience @@@ Many members felt that the moderator a practicing advocate from New Delhi should not have been there on a subject she appeared least knowledge able about. @@@@ not many were happy about the choice of panelist at least one Mr Noronha admitted to his ignorance about the nitty gritty of comunidades. @@@ announcements were made in Churches and temples to gaunkars to partake in the deliberations @@@ bus service was arranged for the convience of gaunkars from Salcete. from the Braganza Hall Panaji GODFREY J I GONSALVES Borda Margao Goa 9822158584 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. 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