Back in the early 1990s, when Goa decided to add Casinos to its tourism bouquet, the government of the day tweaked a law, ironically meant to prohibit gambling, and inserted a section to actually permit gambling through slot machines in starred hotels. A similar irony has replayed now -- a law the government claims is intended to enhance farming and preserve agricultural land -- could actually end up doing the exact opposite. After much ado, the State government has enacted The Goa Restriction on Transfer of Agriculture Land Bill, 2023, which it claims is meant to restrict the transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists. However, its fine print (letter) has provisions, which could technically permit non-farmers and industrial/commercial business houses to pick up swathes of green land and put it to other use. In the just concluded Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, the government has also enacted three other bills dealing with Goa's much coveted and scarce land resource. The Goan attempts to dissect these laws and decipher their implications.
A week ago, when the government announced it would bring in a legislation to restrict the sale (transfer) of agricultural land to outstation non-agriculturists, it was hailed as a progressive step which would arrest the trend of these green zones being diverted for other commercial use.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant himself had described it as a decision in a tweet in which he also informed that the legislation will impose restrictions on the transfer of agricultural lands to preserve and protect the land which is being used for the cultivation of paddy.
The positive reaction to the announcement was understandable in the face of the long-standing debate and the controversy surrounding the large-scale conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes witnessed in the State over the last three decades or so.
However, when the fine print of the law was revealed as Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate introduced The Goa Restriction on Transfer of Agriculture Land Bill, 2023, in the House on Tuesday, the jubilation gave way to disappointment. Not only was there no mention of disallowing the sale to outstation non-agriculturists, but a provision empowering the Collectors to make exceptions and permit transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists, as well as industrial and commercial undertakings, disappointed many.
This piece of legislation apart, the government also used its brute majority in the House to hurry through at least three other legislations. One of these amends the Town Planning Act, second tweaks the Code of Comunidades to give the State government more powers in the affairs of the village communes and third revives an old, lapsed law which will simplify land acquisition for highways.
The Bill's letter
defeats its spirit?
"The Bill seeks to impose restrictions on the transfer of certain agricultural lands in the State of Goa to preserve and protect the land which is presently being used for cultivation of paddy," reads the 'statement of objects and reasons' appended to the bill which was introduced by the Revenue Minister on Tuesday.
While the principle provision of the Bill does prohibit the transfer of agricultural land, whether by sale or gift or lease, to a person other than an agriculturalist. But if to "preserve and protect" agricultural lands currently used for paddy cultivation was indeed the spirit and intent of the government, it is defeated by the Bill's own provision which gives the Collector the power to make exceptions and permit transfer of such land to any person other than an agriculturist or an industrial and commercial undertaking.
Following is the text of the provision empowering the Collectors to grant exemption:
"The Collector may on an application made in a prescribed form grant permission to transfer such land to a person other than Agriculturist in any of the following circumstances, namely: (a) the land is required for purpose of agriculture by industrial or commercial undertaking in connection with any industrial or commercial operations carried on by such undertaking; (b) the land is required by a co-operative farming society."
Land vests in govt if
cultivation abandoned
The Bill meanwhile makes another provision making it incumbent on the transferee to begin cultivation on the land within three years. Failure to do so, says the provision, will lead to the land vesting in the Government, upon expiry of three years from the date of abandonment or discontinuation of such activity.
The Bill also provides a penal provision for forfeiture of the agricultural land transferred in contravention of the basic section which restricts such transfer to persons other than an agriculturist.
It states: "Where in respect of any land, the Collector suo moto or on the application of any person has reason to believe that such transfer is in contravention of Section 3, he shall issue notice to the transferor and the transferee to show cause as to why the transfer should not be declared to be in contravention of the law and shall also hold an inquiry to determine whether the transfer is in contravention of the said section 3."
Appeals against the conclusion of such inquiries will lie before the Collector if it is conducted by the mamlatdar and before the Administrative Tribunal if it is conducted by the Collector, the bill states.
MLAs say it will bring
in farmhouse culture
The provision giving powers to collectors to make exceptions could trigger the culture of farmhouses in Goa as industrialists, particularly from North India, would pick up swathes of agricultural land in Goa, several legislators alleged during the discussion and debate on the bill in the House on Friday, the day it was passed.
According to Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Goa's Land Revenue Code had provisions which permitted the use of agricultural land for building structures for the residence of the farming family or their tenants.
This provision he felt could be misused to build large and posh farmhouses and although the legislation is well-intentioned, it will end up being an invitation for real estate sharks to build such farmhouses for the rich and famous.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai too expressed apprehension that the legislation will bring in the 'farmhouse' culture to Goa from North India where fast-developing areas have seen such development on a massive scale.
TCP to regulate sub-division of land
A bill to amend the Town and Country Planning Act, so as to control the unregulated sub-division of land in cases of the inherited property was piloted by TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane and passed by the House.
Currently, the TCP Act's Section 49 provides for granting exemption from obtaining a certificate of sanction or no objection for sub-division in case of inheritance within the family.
This led to the sub-division of land into multiple plots without adhering to sub-division standards and statutory planning provisions.
According to the amendment's stated objectives, it seeks to control such sub-division of property.
The amendment to section 49 of the TCP Act states: "Provided that no such certificate of sanction or "no objection" shall be required to be produced to transfer, assign, limit or extinguish the right, title or interest in respect of plot to be acquired through inheritance in an ancestral property or in family property by the legal heirs pursuant to succession deed, inventory proceeding, will, family partition/ settlement, gift governed by provisions of the Goa Succession, Special Notaries and Inventory Proceedings Act, 2012 (Goa Act 23 of 2016) and the law in force: Provided further that such development permission shall be required where sub-division results in plots in excess of number of legal heirs."
Rane while pressing for passage of the bill said that the exemption from regulated sub-division of the inherited property was being misused on a large scale and the amendment was the need of the hour to bring in some restrictions.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, himself a former TCP Minister, agreed that the amendment was long overdue as the unregulated sub-division was promoting slum-like development, particularly in cases where the property holdings were large.
Former chief minister Digambar Kamat, again another senior politician who also held the TCP portfolio in the past, too claimed that the restrictions being sought to be introduced in the TCP law were timely as haphazard sub-division of properties and unplanned development of plots could bring up major town-planning impediments in the future.
