TNN | Updated: Sep 25, 2016, 02.23 PM IST PANAJI: Residents of Salvador do Mundo (Saloi) and Socorro stopped illegal felling of trees undertaken by some workers in a private forest at Salvador do Mundo, after they were made aware of the clandestine activity that was under way upon forest land on Serula plateau.
The land, survey number 236/0, has been earmarked as private forest by the Sawant andKarapurkar committees. Situated near the once-proposed IT Park project site, it is accessible through a road that was tarred for the same. The IT Park project was scrapped by the state government after a National Green Tribunal order in 2014 stated that the lands earmarked for the project as well as its contiguous areas were private forest.
From a mere 20 sq mtrs of a kiosk in 1990, Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar, along with his brother Pramod managed to obtain 599 sq mtrs of land illegally over 25 odd years, though the minister has emphatically denied the same. Despite various cases against him, nothing seems to be done against this blatant land grabbing. BASURI DESAI notes down the details
By | 05 Jun, 2016, 07:19AM IST
With land getting more and more scarce and comunidades becoming easy prey, scams revolving around these age old Portuguese institutions have been surfacing in the State. While small instances of land grabbing go unnoticed, the matter is magnified when the names of ministers crop up.
Tourism Minister, Dilip Parulekar’s is one of the names that has cropped up for his part in the Serula comunidade land grab case. The Minister, however, has attempted to defend himself. As per his clarification, he first took the plot on lease with survey number 376/6 in Soccoro village in the year 1990. However, as per records of the village panchayat, facts are contradictory to his statements.
The tale of the land grab is an interesting one. From the 20 sq mtrs of the shade (the areas leased out to Parulekar), how he’s grabbed 599 sq mtrs is worth wondering.
Additionally, he and his brother Pramod have also allegedly illegally occupied property in survey numbers 379, 379/1, 380 and 389/1. The crime branch has launched an extensive investigation in this case which is one of the most significant cases of this decade.
Allegedly, the brothers have also grabbed four other properties in the same area. The land under scrutiny houses Parulekar’s hardware shop on Chogm road in Porvorim, besides other properties. A writ petition was filed before the Goa branch of the Bombay High Court in this matter and the order was also passed to retain the land.
Similarly, Gaunkars of the Serla comunidade have also separately filed a writ petition in the court challenging the said allotments. After the amendment to the code of comunidade in year 2001, Parulekar applied under article 372-A for the regularization of the unauthorized encroached area of 327 sq mtrs in survery numbers 376/6 and 379 in the comunidade. The article clearly states that the regularization of the encroachment is purely for residential purposes only. More importantly, the code of comunidade doesn’t allow the property owned to be given for commercial purposes. However, using his political influence in the last 20 years, Parulekar is using the said plot for commercial purposes.
In 2004, he reportedly grabbed even more property and finally in 2014, a total of 599 sq mtrs was sold to Parulekar under survey number 376/6. The land was encroached on and illegally purchased without following the proper procedure of the code of the comunidade.
The High Court in its order in Feb 2014, following the writ petition filed by Aires Rodrigues, directed the government and comunidade to proceed with the process of regularization of the encroached land in accordance with the law. Unfortunately, state authorities have, so far, not framed the guidelines to regularize encroached land of the comunidade as per the petitioner Trajano D’Mello who challenged this order.
In Feb 2014, Serula comunidade gave permission to construct a residential cum commercial building in the same plot. Presently, only nine shops have been constructed in the same plot, out of which two belong to the minister and his brother.
Another plot in survey number 389/1 was allegedly illegally allotted to Pramod in October 2012, despite a high court ruling in March 2011 wherein the High Court directed that till the conclusion of the inquiry, the managing committee would not take any decision with regard to the disposal of the property of Serula comunidade. Despite this, the comunidade granted the plot to Pramod.
The High court recently directed the Goa government through the North Goa collector, North Goa Planning and Development Authority and village panchayat of Socorro to stop Parulekar and 10 other respondents from occupying unauthorized premises constructed illegally on the land of the comunidade where illegal shops were built for rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the complaint filed by Aires Rodrigues at the Porvorim police station which was later shifted to the crime branch has reached court because the crime branch hasn’t carried out an investigation within the time frame.
The court, last week heard the arguments and reserved direction for June 17. On October 17th, 2014, the court directed the crime branch to complete the investigation within a month but it wasn’t done. After realizing that no action was being taken, Rodrigues approached the court seeking direction.
Under section 156 (3) of the criminal procedure code, the Mapusa JMFC on January 16th, 2014 directed the Porvorim police to register an FIR for offences under sections 119, 120, 420 (read with 120-B) of the IPC against Parulekar, Peter Martins, then attorney of the Serula comunidade and Irene Sequeira, then administrator of the Bardez comunidade.
Besides politicians, there are many government officers and police who have illegally grabbed comunidade land by forging documents required to obtain the plot under the provisions of the law.
