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Goa Tenancy Act to be amended with removal of ‘Sunset clause’

The “Sunset Clause” in Goa tenancy act is coming to an end with the introduction an amendment to the legislation during the monsoon session of
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The “Sunset Clause” in Goa tenancy act is coming to an end with the introduction an amendment to the legislation during the monsoon session of the state legislative assembly which is starting on 27th July 2015. “The meaning of Sunset Clause is measure within a statute, regulation or other law that provides that the law should cease to have effective after the specified date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law”. According to the news published by the local daily the state government has initiated the process of withdrawing the highly controversial ‘Sunset Clause’ from the Goa Agriculture Tenancy Act 2014 by way of introducing an amendment in the assembly.

The sunset clause (section 60C) of the Act gives tenant three years from September 25, 2014 to file an application declaring their tenancy rights under section 7 of an old Act. This controversial Act was cleared by the House last year during the budget session which attracted very strong criticism from the opposition parties and tenants associations. According to Deputy CM Francis D’souza the decision of abolishing the same has been taken due to increase in protest from the people. “The removal of the clause from the tenancy act will not change the basic structure of the legislation,” said D’souza adding that government will expedite the pending tenancy cases and clear them within three years period. D’souza also blamed the mamlatdar for the delay in clearing the tenancy cases over the years.

However, one should also know that these delays are the result of the civil disputes related to the cases,” Said D’souza pointing out that there are several cases pending of civil disputes between the parties which arisen out of the death of original tenants which is carried forward by their heirs. According to the available sources there are more than 5000 tenancy cases which are pending before the Mamlatdars have been transferred to the courts of senior civil judge to ensure the speedy disposal. There is also uncertainty in regards to number of cases due to the disputes in the name of landlord and tenant on form I XIV pertaining to the land. This information provided by one of the Mamlatdar on the condition of privacy, he said that tenants are reluctant to enter into the legal hassles, “In fact, they are reluctant to officially become the tenants as that would mean they are tenants for lifetime, and then would have to follow a number of norms,” he said “once a person is declared a tenant, the surrender of his tenancy becomes difficult”, he added.

According to the Chief Minister the ‘sunset clause’ was aggressively supported by politically motivated leaders and land sharks that flourishes on the disputes between landlords and tenants and grabs the land. He had also maintained that the particular clause was not introduced into the legislation for closing of the judicial proceedings pertaining to the tenancy cases.

There is no doubt that this subject is disputable. According to you what is the reason behind amending the tenancy Act Now? Who is really behind all these? Please do leave your comments and suggestions on this issue bellow the article.

Source: NT  

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