I have and I am boastful that I have 9 PILs in the High Court of Bombay at
Goa, one of which even went to the Supreme Court in Delhi.[ and for this,
help came from Ben Antao, a good friend of GSRP and FL.]
I have, in all these petitions, appeared in person to save on the thousands
and lacs of rupees that Advocates will take. The HC has given me Amicus
Curae in three of these PILs amongst which Adv. Norma Alvares was one in
the Calapur Saltpan Petition, by which the calapur saltpans have been saved.
In the Garbage petition, it was Mahesh Sonak and in yet one other petition
it was Adv. John Abreu Lobo. The HC of Bombay at Goa even asked the three
Respondent Hotels to Pay me Rs. 5000/- each towards my incurred expenses in
WP236/2007 against Calypso, Farenheit and Strela do Mar. [Calangute].
Incidentally Rs 4 cr worth of demolitions has taken place w.r.t. Calypso
because I refused to be paid-off. I had to file fresh WP 580/2009 against
the 3 hotels to challenged the orders w.r.t. these three hotels by GCZMA
[Michael D'Souza] regularizing all their other blatant violations. But
somehow, they found the loophole to tell me that I cannot file one petition
to challenge three different orders, That I file three different petitons or
be dismissed. Therefore I have withdrawn WP580/2009 intending to file 3
different petitions in the HC of Bombay at Goa. However, I am contemplating
of approaching NGT with my gievances, so help me GOA.
Likewise, fighting PILs has taken it's toll on me and presently I am tired
of fighting on the fringes. Talking to Justice Shah himself when he came to
Goa was a pleasure, though. More than this, I have put a political
foundation in non-corrosive concrete for Goa and Goans in GSRP. All I want
is a sincere commitment from Goans, not to me, but to their Goa, and all
will be fine. I would have willingly helped GF with anything to spare that
will only increase inflation. Unfortunately, the plate is lean and there is
nothing whatsoever to spare. However, it will be good to know who signs the
cheques for GF.
floriano
goasuraj
9890470896
PS: Matias Vaz of Santa Cruz, more specifically known as Maureen Printers,
used to be the Treasurer of GF, but he was not signing the cheques as the
TREASURER of GF. So, he, as GSRP's VP was asked to resign as the Treasurer
or sort out the problem. And we believe that he did.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cecil Pinto" <[email protected]>
To: "goanet" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2013 10:27 AM
Subject: [Goanet] An appeal from Claude Alvares - Goa Foundation
I found the appeal below at:
https://www.facebook.com/GoaFoundation
As you must be knowing Goa Foundation has been fighting the valiant fight
to save Goa from the evil greedy designs of the mining lobby. I think the
time has come for us to strengthen Claude's hands by donating whatever
amount we can.
-------------------------
Yes, I have to finally admit, we need some money. The Supreme Court case
in
Delhi is taking a toll on our already stretched finances and unlike mining
companies we do not own any iron ore mines!
Fighting PILs, like we do, causes a lot of consternation among those
critical of our actions. Goa CM once told the press we need to know how
these people can fight their cases in the Supreme Court. He said that when
he filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Congress politician,
Mauvin Godinho, he had to shell out 10-12 lakhs. [It would have been nice
if he had told us where he got the 10-12 lakhs.] And no lawyer is going to
argue a case for a politician free of cost.
In an interesting case in which we were involved (challenging the
construction of the Grand Hyatt in Goa, where the principal opponents were
Vinod Goenka and Shahid Balwa: remember the 2G scam accused?), we found we
were bereft of counsel because our usual counsel, Indira Jaising, had
accepted the offer to become Addl Solicitor General of India. What to do?
So we asked K K Venugopal whom we had met when he was awarded the Padma
Bhushan (as Norma Alvares had received her Padma Sri at the same time).
KKV
told us he would fight our cases without charge when needed. So when
Indira
opted out, we went to KKV. Even though some 8 years had passed since he
had
made the offer, we met him and he spontaneously agreed.
The problem arose after the hearings in the Supreme Court in that matter
were completed. Promptly within the month we became subject to a formal
inquiry conducted by the income tax which wanted to know from where we had
received the money to pay KKV (who admittedly is one of India's most
highly
paid counsel). We sent them our audited accounts and they shut up. But
they
could have simply asked KKV and he would have told them he argued the
matter free of cost (pro bono). Lawyers still do that in Delhi for genuine
PIL matters. But look at the reach of our opponents in that case!
Now we have the same issue being made about the present mining case. How
could we have filed this petition which has deprived the govt of some 1500
crores? The hidden charge is we are being financed by opposition parties.
In the Supreme Court, ranged against us (and Goa's environment) are
India's
front-ranking lawyers. Mercifully, the truth is always free. You pay
lawyers because you want to hide it. Prashant Bhushan has politely
declined
even talking of fees in the matter since this is a PIL and he is well
aware
of the work of the Goa Foundation. [Several other Delhi lawyers appear pro
bono (free) for the Goa Foundation. They include Sanjay Parikh, Raj
Panjwani, Ritwick Dutta (with his associates Rahul and Parul) and Anita
Shenoy.]
So what do we need money for? Travel up and down from Delhi, that's all.
Air tkts now average 10-15K one way. Friends in Delhi look after us so we
don't have to stay in hotels. So if you have some additional cash which is
doing nothing but adding to inflation -- or worse, might someday be eaten
by termites -- send it to us for use. This is the mother of all
environment
battles Goa and Goans are fighting, in order to protect ourselves long
term
protection from an industry which believes solely in dig and sell and
which
wants to convert this most priceless and astonishingly green piece of
earth
into a replica of the barren and cratered face of the moon.
If you write in, we can send you the Goa Foundation bank information.
------------------------------
Please contact Goa Foundation directly at:
Phone: 0832 226 3305
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://goafoundation.org/
Cheers!
Cecil
=========
