Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Vigilance Department has been instructed by the Bombay High Court in Goa to pursue Jitesh Kamat’s complaint on the St. Francis Xavier Exposition’s works in Old Goa to its logical end.
The Public Works Department (PWD) has already been directed by the Vigilance Department to assess the works on site and provide a thorough report that will serve as a roadmap for future steps.
Jitesh Kamat claimed manipulation of the 47 works submitted by the PWD’s Executive Engineer, Works Division V, to provide facilities during the Exposition of the Sacred Relics of St. Francis Xavier in his public interest litigation (PIL) writ case. In order to determine who was accountable for the purported anomalies, Kamat requested that the PWD and Vigilance Department conduct an investigation.
Additionally, he asked that impartial technical experts measure the temporary and semi-permanent work done for the Exposition so that contractor payments might be adjusted appropriately.
To carry out this evaluation, Kamat suggested assembling a group of specialists from Goa College of Engineering, Farmagudi, and other establishments.
Citing Kamat’s own status as a PWD contractor, the Court had initially declined to consider the PIL. But when Pravin Faldessai, an Additional Government Advocate, affirmed that the petition was sent as a complaint to the Vigilance Department, and the Court mandated that the PWD conduct a site inspection. Before any constructions are disassembled, the inspection report needs to be turned in to the Vigilance Department.
After that, the PIL was dismissed by the Court.
