NT Reporter
Margao
Following concerns over the NAKSHA survey, Citizens for Democracy Goa has called for formal guidelines outlining the process and legal status of the proposed Urban Property Card. The group alleged that the exercise could
eventually push ancestral properties into permanent legal limbo.
“For unique historical reasons, a vast majority of long-term Cuncolim residents do not possess robust documentary records.
Any demand by the Inquiry Officer for immediate
‘proof of title’ under summary executive powers bestowed on the Inquiry Officer, bypassing civil court jurisdictions, threatens to push ancestral properties into permanent legal limbo,” Former bureaucrat
Elvis Gomes told reporters on Tuesday.
Gomes cautioned the government to exercise care before embarking on what he described as a “hazardous” journey. Gomes said many property holders were currently abroad or in other parts of India and would not be in a position to appear before the inquiry officer.
He said that besides writing to the Chief Minister, he had urged Margao MLA Digambar Kamat to intervene, as he had done on the Smart Meter issue.
He also said the exercise of verifying 18,545 property holdings in Cuncolim was a logistical nightmare.
