In one of the latest developments, the Goa Housing Board has amended the rules pertaining to allotment and sale of properties to the Goans residing in Goa for a minimum of 30 years and due to this now 30 years of domicile will be mandatory for buying the properties offered by the Goa Housing Board.
According to the latest developments now even the OCIs (overseas citizen of India) will be eligible to apply for buying the properties offered by the Goa Housing Board’s tenements.
The earlier 15-year domicile certificate rule is no longer applicable for buying the properties in Goa, said the report.
As far as the OCIs are concerned the applicant has to be a citizen of India and must be born in Goa on or before December 19, 1961, or born of a parent who resided in Goa for the last 30 years, or was born in Goa and has been a resident of the state continuously for the last 30 years.
Applicants born in Goa of parents who has been residents of the state for the last 30 years on the date of making an application for the tenement are also eligible.
According to the reports, the inclusion of OCIs into this came into force only after the Congress Legislature Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has brought to the notice that the amendment to rule 5 had not considered the Goan diaspora who are Indian citizens or OCIs in various parts of the world.
Lourenco said he had pursued the matter with the Goa Housing Board, pointing out that it would be a grave injustice to the sons of the soil if they were excluded from the benefit.
“We submitted that 30 years of domicile ought to be made mandatory for persons of non-Goan origin to protect the interest of Goans,” he said.
Meanwhile, for the applicant who is OCI, it will be mandatory for them to obtain the clearance certificates from the competent regulatory authorities before making an application for the requisition of plots of flat from the Goa Housing Board.
The report also states that the plots and flats will be released only through e-auctions which will be conducted on the web portal based software where the applicants submit their bids.
The new development will give the opportunity to the Goan diaspora living across the world to take advantage of the subsidized lands and apartments sold by the Goa Housing Board. Meanwhile, there is no clarity over who will keep track of the domicile certificates done by the non-Goans by changing their names here.
