NT Reporter
Panaji
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva strongly objected to the proposed bill to regularise illegal structures on comunidade land.
“The comunidade is the owner of comunidade land. If somebody comes and constructs something on comunidade land, how can you legalise it? As per law, you cannot regularise these illegal structures,” said Viegas, adding, “There is the Code of Comunidade, and things have to work as per that.”
“Whatever they are going to do in the assembly will be bad in law, and since it is going to be bad in law, it will be challenged. But before it goes for challenging, as Opposition we will prove that it is bad in law,” said Viegas.
Both AAP MLAs, along with the managing committees of various comunidades in Goa, submitted a memorandum to the Governor raising objections to the proposed bill seeking to regularise illegal structures on comunidade land without the consent of the comunidade body.
“The undersigned members of the managing committees of the various comunidades of Goa and on behalf of the supporting Gaunkars or shareholders or components, we hereby respectfully submit, in view of recent reports, that the Government of Goa intends to introduce a bill in the upcoming monsoon assembly session to regularise illegal encroachments on comunidade lands by empowering the Administrator of Comunidades to approve such regularisation without the consent or deliberation of the general body of the respective comunidades,” the memorandum said.
It further said that the
signatories placed on
record their strong objection to any such legislative move, which they said
constitutes a direct violation of the Code of Comunidades, effectively repeals Sections 371 to 399 of the Code, and undermines the rights of Gaunkars to determine the status of encroachments in accordance with the Code.
The memorandum said the bill would encourage land grabbing by rewarding illegal occupation, with encroachers protected by political promises rather than comunidade members.
It warned this would lead to the irreversible alienation of ancestral lands and a serious threat to the autonomy, traditions, and legal rights of the comunidade system, violating Article 5 of the Code of Communidade.
