Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Bombay High Court at Goa has issued notices to all respondents in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the government’s decision to lease over 2 lakh square metres of comunidade land in Tivim to the Pune-based MIT Group of Institutions.
The case will come up for further hearing on August 11.
During the initial hearing, Advocate General Devidas Pangam represented the State, while legal representatives of the MIT Group and the managing committee of the Tivim comunidade were also in attendance. Senior Advocate Carlos Ferreira appeared for the petitioners.
The PIL, filed last month by a group of Tivim gauncars, accuses the authorities of gross irregularities, including forgery, manipulation of official records, and violations of the Code of Comunidades. The petitioners have claimed that the lease was granted at an unreasonably low rate of ₹12.50 per square metre, in stark contrast to the prevailing market rate of around ₹10,000 per square metre.
According to the petition, the lease was executed without following the mandatory requirements outlined in Article 334-A of the Code of Comunidades, which mandates a government-approved scheme and a no-objection certificate (NOC) for leasing comunidade land—neither of which were reportedly obtained.
The petition further alleges that the MIT Group did not officially request the land at a concessional rate, and the proposal was neither listed in the agenda nor discussed transparently at the General Body meeting of the comunidade. It claims that the managing committee, in alleged collusion with government officials and the escrivão (village clerk), tampered with records to push the lease through and mislead the authorities.
The petitioners have sought several remedies, including cancellation of the lease deed executed between the Director of Higher Education and the MIT Group, annulment of the General Body resolution authorising the lease, and restoration of the land to the Tivim comunidade. They have also called for revocation of any partition or mutation carried out in connection with the lease.
An interim plea has also been made to restrain the MIT Group from undertaking any construction or altering the character of the land until the case is fully resolved.
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