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It continues to be hot, though some parts of Goa were blessed enough to receive showers of relief. Who really got relief though, is Digambar Kamat and Churchill Alemao, after the High Court quashed the trial court’s order taking cognisance of the ED’s ECIR [ https://substack.com/redirect/7109c546-0e79-4944-8e25-ebb188402b93?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] in the case of money laundering linked to the Louis Berger case. For the rest of us though, things seem to be getting worse (before they get better, I hope). Hello and welcome to yet another edition of Gerard’s Gazette, a weekly newsletter in which I attempt to break down the events of the week gone by and offer a bit of context, as well as a dose of news you may have missed and news behind the news. Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. If this is your first time here, thank you for signing up, and I hope you stick around! And, as always, if you like what you are reading, make sure you pass it around. Rajendra Arlekar: [Wrongly] Interpreting the rules since 2002 Monday (May 4) would have been a day of much political activity in Goa -- alas it was reduced to just another Monday, ever since the Bombay High Court at Goa ruled that the by -election for the Ponda assembly seat was to not go ahead. [The matter was supposed to be heard in the Supreme Court on May 8, wonder what happened about that.] However, while Goa missed out on the action (can hardly be called that especially if the results are known in advance) a certain Goan has been front and centre of the political action in Tamil Nadu -- something that shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. Rajendra Arlekar -- He’s the present Governor of Kerala with additional charge of Tamil Nadu and of Himachal Pradesh and Bihar before that (I think). Arlekar, as you know has been sending Vijay, the leader of the TVK party, which emerged as the single largest party in Tamil Nadu in the recently held elections, back and forth claiming that he didn’t secure enough numbers to justify inviting him to form his government. It was obviously all balderdash. It’s frankly not the Governor’s business to insist that a leader of a political party staking a claim to form a government demonstrate he has more than a majority to invite him to form a government. If that were the case, the then Governor of Maharashtra had no business swearing Devendra Fadnavis in at 5am, all those years ago, when all Fadnavis had at the time was Ajit Pawar by his side. There are innumerable examples like this leaving no doubt to the fact that it’s not the Governor’s business to decide who has the number or who does not. The numbers have to be proven on the floor of the House during a vote of confidence. No law says that the ruling government needs to have the support of more than half the members of the house. A government needs to win the vote of confidence by securing more numbers in its favour than those against. Absentations are allowed [as is getting the Speaker to disqualify (or evict) members of the opposition in order that you can secure the numbers. Don’t believe me, just ask Digambar Kamat how he survived a vote of confidence in 2007 shortly after being sworn in as chief minister or you can even ask (former Velim MLA) Filipe Neri Rodrigues how he was dragged out of the Goa Legislative Assembly in order that Parrikar could survive a vote of confidence!] God knows we’ve had minority governments in the past as well. But then again, if you know Arlekar, you will know attempting to interpret rules according to his own convenience is how he began his political career in the first place. The year was 2000 and during Parrikar’s first term as chief minister, when he pulled the rug from under Francisco Sardinha’s feet, he appointed Arlekar, who then wasn’t an MLA, as the Chairman of Goa State Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation Limited. Two years later, in 2002, when Parrikar dissolved the Goa Legislative Assembly and called for fresh elections, Arlekar was given the party’s ticket from Vasco da Gama assembly constituency. Being the knobhead that he is, not only did he not quit the post before contesting, but also billed his election expenses to the government body of which he was chairman. When he won in 2002, his election [ https://substack.com/redirect/18f4ed38-7a32-4deb-bca0-75c1f2b661a5?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] was promptly challenged by his nearest rival Jose Philip D’Souza (of the NCP) [ https://substack.com/redirect/c2dc484b-cae0-4aaa-9a24-15b0cef05fe4?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and he (along with Dayanand Mandrekar of Siolim, for a similar infringement) were disqualified by the High Court for holding ‘office of profit’, a verdict that was later upheld by the Supreme Court [ https://substack.com/redirect/16a9c662-bd53-4386-86bf-148c8838463e?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Now while Arlekar claims that he’s a two-term Goa MLA the reality is that his disqualification has meant that he’s had only one ‘valid’ term -- between 2012 and 2017 when he served as Speaker and as a minister in the latter half. In 2017, the people of Pernem didn’t think he deserved a second term and that’s where his tenure as an MLA ended. That’s not the whole story either. Those of you who are of a certain vintage will know of the petrol pump scandal that engulfed the Vajpayee government somewhere around the year 2002. In August 2002, a major controversy engulfed the BJP-led NDA government, revealing that over 3,850 petrol pumps, LPG outlets, and kerosene agencies that were initially meant for Kargil war widows were allotted to political leaders, party workers, and their family members. Word was that Arlekar was one such out of turn beneficiary. The allotments were later cancelled by the government following a political uproar. Arlekar, though, made it through and went on to own the M/s Om Shree Vetobaa HP petrol pump located on F L Gomes Road in Vasco. Back to the present then. Finally on Saturday evening Governor Arlekar appeared to have expressed satisfaction that Vijay indeed had the numbers and invited him to form the government [ https://substack.com/redirect/f306cf72-fb67-46a1-9c6a-c8212bd783c8?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Well it turns out that Arlekar wasn’t really all that bothered about whether Vijay had the numbers or not. There’s a theory doing the rounds that all he was doing was trying to buy time in order that nothing comes in the way of the triumphant swearing in of the BJP’s first West Bengal chief minister. With that out of the way, miraculously Arlekar’s reservations all evaporated and Vijay will now be sworn in on Sunday. Is the theory correct? Who’s to say? But now that you know a bit more about Arlekar’s history than before, I leave it to you to decide. CASI-NO There’s some positive news from the campaign to prevent the MV Deltin Royale -- the 2,000 capacity floating casino that was due to be moored in the River Mandovi this month. In the High Court, where Enough is Enough via centenarian freedom fighter Libia Lobo Sardessai has filed a public interest litigation petition, the casino company conceded that their swanky new boat (it’s more like a floating crate than a boat) that it didn’t currently possess a certificate of survey and made a statement that it wouldn’t be entering the River Mandovi for now. Following this, the High Court passed orders mandating that the boat shall not be brought into the River Mandovi [ https://substack.com/redirect/1f818e7b-c60b-4a16-a493-77cee03ece3f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], or within the jurisdiction of the Panjim port without the permission of the Court. [Yes, Panjim does have a ‘port’. The Captain of Ports ‘jetty’ is actually a notified minor ‘port’ where once upon a time, the Bombay-Goa steamer, as well as several other ships, including up to the 1950s traditional Arabian dhows would dock. During the peak of Goa’s mining boom (scam) some nearly 6 million metric tonnes or iron ore was recorded as having been exported from the Panjim port!] In effect this means that the ship will not be arriving before the monsoons, which in turn means, if it indeed still wants to come, will have to wait at least until October, when the Aguada sand bar that emerges every monsoon, dissipates. MV Lucky Seven that is today known as the Big Daddy casino, learnt that the hard way, when the Gopal Kanda backed group, tried to squeeze in their boat during the first week of July, the peak of the monsoons back in 2017. The boat ran aground at the Miramar beach [ https://substack.com/redirect/c1cad26a-138e-4dae-b22c-faffa357dc50?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and was refloated only after several attempts, during which time, the beach is said to have lost nearly 100m of sand to erosion. More than that, however, the Goa government, which has consistently defended its decision to permit the casino to moor in the River, stating that it won’t need a casino licence to simply park itself, has been told that it must not grant permission for the boat to drop anchor, unless it first seeks the permission of the Court. That’s where things stand for now until July, when the Court is expected to next hear the matter, unless of course the Goa government or the casino company approach the Supreme Court for relief. There’s already a caveat filed, should that happen. No one killed the Tiger, they say As you may be aware, a barely recognisable carcass of a tiger was found in the forest at a village called Aaglot, at Sacorda in Dharbandora last Friday [ https://substack.com/redirect/8fd8aa5b-96b9-4792-97ba-b04dc305377f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Well now, the report is in. And while it remains inconclusive as regards the cause of death, the report goes on to say that they found no evidence of poaching. [ https://substack.com/redirect/67da9477-fbf6-4efb-a487-2c8f880952ca?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] As you will have heard, that the carcass was found with teeth and nails missing, there were strong suspicions that it might be a poaching death. Teeth, claws, etc are known to fetch a high value in the underground markets especially for their usefulness in the market for traditional medicines. (Why that’s a thing in the 21st century still beats me every time I think about it.) Since, then, however, the Forest Department has claimed that the teeth and claws have been found scattered in the vicinity -- the carcass itself was found scattered across (at least) three different locations possibly the result of scavengers, there was no evidence of poisoning, entrapment or that the tiger was ensnared that led to its death, the report claimed. I, for one, was very sceptical when the Forest Department seemed to conclude on the same day that the carcass was found that it was “most likely a natural death”. Goa, as you know, has a history of tiger killings. Since 2009 this was the sixth tiger to be found dead in Goa. Four of the previous five were killed in a single instance of a tigress and her cubs being killed by a poisoned carcass while in 2009 a tiger was killed by a snare, set up by hunters to catch wild boar, and its carcass burnt to destroy the evidence. All that survived was a photograph of the animal before it was burnt. No one was prosecuted. That said, tigers being deliberately killed for their claws or teeth have not yet been reported, at least from Goa. It’s possible that there have been other tigers killed whose deaths never came to light -- deaths we’ll never know about. But if there’s one thing this death has done -- is that it has blown out of the water the claim that Goa’s tigers don’t need the protection that comes with a Tiger Reserve or worse that Goa’s tigers aren’ t resident to the state [ https://substack.com/redirect/c72a96c1-cc6d-46dd-a38d-5103e3834d91?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Those claims were never really believable. They’re even less believable now. That’s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say. I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter. You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here. As always, please share and help spread the word. I usually sign off by saying, until next week. However, this time, I intend to take a three week-breather (during which time I will be travelling), so I shall see you all in June! Tchau! Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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