Dears, The legal standing of the Gram Sabha resolutions in the light of the
sub-section 4 of the Goa Panchyat Act, 1994, needs to be properly interpreted.
Is an act of the Village Panchayat in contravention of an existing Gram Sabha
resolution valid? If not what is the legal remedy?
The Aldona village Panchayat had failed to deposit a licence fee of
Rs.10,000/- per day decided by the Gram Sabha to be paid by any film
producer/studio or advertising agency for use of the wire-stayed bridge
connecting the Aldona mainland to Corjuem island. The bridge was used for 10
days in the month of March, 2008. An amount is allleged to have been collected
but there is no deposit in the Panchayat treasury as proof thereof. On 27
April, 2008, the Gram Sabha unanimously resolved that the Panchas and the
Panchayat Secretary will arrange to deposit the said amount in the Panchayat
fund. Is the resolution legal or not?
All non-government development works above Rs.50.00 lakhs in the village of
Aldona are to be INFORMED to the Gram Sabha BEFORE approval of the project by
the Village Panchayat. Is a project estimated by the "developer" to cost
Rs.92.75 lakhs [though actual cost of six villas, each to sold for about
Rs.1.75 crores as per brochure of the developers, is likely to be much higher],
approved without NOCs from Health and Electricity ...and without 'informing'
the Gram Sabha which met twice between the date of the application and the
issue of construction licence .... legal or not? The Gram Sabha on 27 April has
asked for TOTAL RECALL.
Will some builder now question the Constitutional validity of the 73rd
amendment to the Constitution of India? The "People's power" is not based on
any law: it is a part of the Constitution of India! The British Raj days are
over. Vestiges of the British Raj like the "Official Secrets Act" and the "Land
Acquisition Act, 1894" need to be repealed.
The amendment to the Section 16 of the TCP Act,1974, passed by the Goa
Legislative Assembly in March, 2008, without discussion, to bypass the
Panchayati Raj insititutions and the Regional Plan needs to be repealed at the
next session of the Assembly. It is another matter that the Task Force on
Regional Plan 2021 has been behaving like an Eunach at the royal harem ....well
fed and healthy, but totally impotent! Digamber rightly strides like the
Emperor of Goa ... in Emperor's clothes. He has a name to live up to!! The
village boys have begun to laugh and point out the absurdity of the nudity as
Bina Ramani pointed out in NDTV's "We, the People" to the stupidity of ageing
and obese tourists in bikinis at the mini-super markets away from the
beachfront in Goa.
Mog asundi.
Miguel
Footsteps of a Goan Revolution
Jason Keith Fernandes, Dona Paula, Goa.
Politics, it has been said, is the last refuge of scoundrels. In
the days following the uprisings in Carmona, Siridao and Aldona, another
fact has also been thrown into sharp focus; Law too, is the last refuge of
scoundrels. Not for the first time, following the direct actions of
residents concerned with the mutilation of their immediate
environment, the 'developmental' interests involved (and they are Goan!) have
mobilized the Law to cow down the popular protests that are thankfully becoming
a part of Goan public life. The Gram Sabha, they inform us, has no real
authority to reject, when the elected representatives or other authorities have
already granted permission to projects.
My aim in this intervention is not to suggest that the Gram Sabha
does in fact in law have a right to reject a project once it has already been
approved by the concerned authorities. There is without doubt in
the current events that are taking place in Goa, a clear rejection of the
procedure of law, a rejection of the authorities set up by law. Of this let us
not be in any doubt. Let us also acknowledge that in the manner in which
Gram Sabhas are being organized and mobilized, there is a chance that it could
in later times swing to another extreme. Thus these currently salvatory
gatherings could possibly turn oppressors of the rights of the marginalized
they are currently supporting. A perfect example of this is the manner in
which Catholic villagers gang up in Gram Sabhas to make sure that local
Muslims have no opportunity to establish either mosque or graveyard in their
village. Let us also recognize that we need to evolve a more
elaborate code regarding the manner in which quorum is constituted for such
Gram Sabhas and how these meetings must be conducted.
And yet despite the procedural problems that these Gram Sabha
resolutions may pose today, my aim is to point out that the current emphasis on
legality; the letter of the law is being stressed primarily to
shift the debate away from the emphasis of legitimacy that the people of Goa
are everywhere articulating. We have for years now mourned the rule of
the forty thieves. Clearly representative democracy- what our textbooks call
Westminster style Parliamentary democracy was not working for us.
It created a situation where law was (is) used not to meet the genuine needs
of the people but to serve the interests of the new political elite of
the State.
It is in this context that, to paraphrase Nehru, the soul of a
nation long suppressed finds utterance, resulting in the overturning of the
letter of the law, for an emphasis on legitimacy of actions. What we are
witness to, and participants in Goa, is nothing less than a revolution; where
the
attempt is to always sweep away an earlier illegitimate order and
bring in one that is premised on legitimacy.
What is exciting about this revolution is that it finds its
inspiration within the legitimate framework of the Indian constitution. We in
India are fortunate to have a Constitution that is not static. The
Constitution may have started out as a blueprint for parliamentary style
democracy, but it has also gradually opened up the space for a more radical
form of deliberative democracy. A democracy where not just the elected
representatives, but concerned citizens will also have an active
say in the governance of the country, state and locality. Unfortunately for
us however, the realization of this radical form has, as the history of Goa
will show, consistently been frustrated since the political elite whether in
Delhi or in Goa do not stand to benefit from this model of democracy. This
political elite constantly points to the lack of fit between the
parliamentary and panchayati urges in the Constitution, and the only way this
tension will be resolved is through the revolutionary action that the people of
Goa are now displaying.
It is crucial that we remember that we are inhabitants of a
revolutionary moment, since it is this consciousness alone that will save us
from the deluge that threatens to overwhelm us. We have to remember that
the house of the legislature today stands corrupt and lacking in any moral
standing. The courtroom, even when handling PILs is the space not of radical
movement; but slow, cautious and status-quoist action. It is the status-quo
dictated to us in the form of speculator friendly procedures that is threatening
our land, and it is only radical action that can provide us succour.
To those who tell us that we are not following a legal process, to
them we
must respond that we are. We are operating within the framework of the
Constitution of India, and what we are in violation of, are
procedures and power-structures that are wholly illegitimate. It is not our
actions that are in violation of the Constitution, but the procedures
themselves. It is these that must change, and not our demands or our actions.
Viva la Revolucion!
Pulished in the Gomantak Times, April 23rd 2008
(Comments are welcomed at www.dervishnotes. blogspot. com)
Courtesy: "Vidyadhar Gadgil" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:26 pm
(PDT) Save Goa-Now
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