The Goa government would serve notices via mobile phones and computers from 1st July as per the Goa Electronic Delivery of Notice Act, 2022 which defines ‘notice’ as “summons, requisition, direction, process or any other communication used to inform, warn or direct any person under the state law.” As per the Act, an electronically served notice shall have deemed to have been duly served when the electronic device used to send the notice clearly indicates that it is viewed by the person or his authorised representative. The e-notice would have a unique and prescribed identification. The idea seems to be a good move as the delivery of messages would be faster and resources, manpower and time could be saved.
On the other hand, nowadays people receive fake messages accusing them of having committed serious crimes and that strict actions would be taken if the matter is not settled. Many have fallen in the trap and lost their hard-earned money and peace of mind. In the newspapers, the government issues warning to the people not to open or respond to such threatening e-mails and that government summons are hand-delivered by authorised persons.
In the light of these contradictions, how will the recipient of the e-notices know if these are genuine even with unique identifications, which may be duplicated by scamsters? What happens if people delete the emails, by looking at the subject line and assuming these to be fakes, or mails get deleted inadvertently or mails lie in the spam folder? If the e-notices are send through WhatsApp, people may delete the message if it is from an unknown number or there might not be a double blue tick seen by the sender. Considering these impediments, the safest and best ways are the time-tested and robust methods of hand-delivery of government notices, speed-post with acknowledgement card or pasting on the door of the recipient’s house.
