Dear Gabe, Without commenting on whether the Cidade de Goa "accommodation" was just or not, 'grand-fathering' is an instrument which is used by many countries to 'regularise' something irregular done in the past. Even in UK law, one is likely to find evidence of that.
That, I submit, is different from penalising somebody on the basis of newly enacted (effective say Jan 1, 2009) laws - for doing something in 2008 or earlier; something which was not illegal (or unjust) in 2008 and earlier! The last such injustice was done by the MGP when it enacted a law which transferred (a la Zimbabwe) land to the one who worked on it. (Adequate provisions were made to exempt the Mines from this Act). Hello! Concerned Goans and journos (OK, omit the journos) must get ALL the facts of the cases, and provided nothing illegal has been done by the purchaser (knowingly or otherwise) -lobby the government. jc [1] JC wrote: Eddie Fernandes asked two questions: The answers are as follows. A private member's bill if voted upon and passed by Parliament - becomes law, and Laws in democratic countries are not retroactive. [2] Gabe Menezes wrote: Talk about not being retro - what about the legislation passed to accommodate Cidade de Goa, to legalise a blatant breaking of the law? Seems to me and this holds true, Indians can and do things beyond comprehension.
