Linus Mario Dlima and Anr v. The State of Goa Thr. Chief Secretary and 2 Ors

ORDER WHEREAS, it is observed that there is large scale pendency of revenue cases under various Acts, especially, The Goa Daman & Diu Mundkar (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975 and Goa Daman & Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964. The issue of pendency and poor disposal of revenue court cases was raised by different Hon'ble Members of Goa Legislative Assembly in recently conducted Assembly Session, 2022 during the discussion on Demands for grants for year 2022-23. AND WHEREAS, the Hon'ble Minister for Revenue has taken a serious note of pendency of Mundkar and Tenancy matters and also has assured the Legislative Assembly of Goa that all steps will be taken to ensure speedy disposal of Revenue Court cases by sensitizing the Revenue Officers to give utmost priority in disposal of cases in a time bound manner, and establishing a robost monitoring mechanism at the level of both Collectors and at the level of Government. The Hon'ble Minister for Revenue has also assured the Legislative Assembly and the General public of the State that maximum efforts would be taken for disposal of Mundkar cases within a period of one year. AND WHEREAS, various instructions were issued to all the Revenue Officers from time to time for timely and systematic disposal of various Revenue Court cases, more specially the two orders read above. AND WHEREAS, Rule 10(14) of the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Rules, 1965 mandates that "The Mamlatdar shall dispose of the application within period of one year from the date of service of notice to the other party". Similarly, Rule 10(7) provides that, "the dates should not be issued later than 15 days". Similarly, Rule 14 of the Mundkar provides that, "the Mamlatdar may for any other sufficient reason to be recorded in writing adjourn the trial of the case for such time, as he thinks fit, but not ordinarily exceeding 10 days". AND WHEREAS, Section 36(1) of the Goa Daman & Diu Mundkars (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975 gives power to the Government to give directions which reads as "The Government shall have power to issue directions or orders to the Mamlatdars or the Collector to give effect to the provision of this Act and the rules made thereunder". Similarly, Section 59 of the Goa Daman & Diu Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964 provides that, "the Government have powers to issue directions or orders to Mamlatdars, Tribunal and Collectors, to give effect to the provision of this Act and the rules made thereunder". NOW THEREFORE, in pursuance to above referred provisions, the Government is hereby pleased to issue following directives for being implemented and followed by the Revenue officials while dealing with revenue court matter: i. Every efforts shall be made to dispose the pending mundakar and tenancy cases within a period of one year. ii. Not more than three adjournment in any particular case shall be granted till its final disposal and the next date of hearing fixed should not ordinarily be exceeding 10 days. iii. Both Collector shall designate special Mamlatdar who shall exclusively deal with mundkar and tenancy court matters and who shall ensure that hearing of revenue courts should mandatorily happen once date is fixed. iv. The Revenue Officers shall ensure that in case due to prefixed engagement if hearing on any particular dates will require to be adjourned then prior intimation to both the parties and/or their advocate on record shall be invariably given by way of SMS on their registered mobile number to avoid inconvenience and harassment to public. v. Both the Collectors shall allot mundkar and tenancy cases to Mamlatdar-in-Collectorate also to ensure fast disposal of cases. vi. The special designated Mamlatdars shall also hold revenue courts on Saturday to ensure timely disposal of the cases. vii. The mundkar and tenancy cases which are pending for more than 3 years shall be taken up for hearing on day to day basis and shall be disposed off as early as possible. viii. The Supervisory Officers shall write the APARs of the Subordinate Officers based on their performance in disposal of Revenue cases allotted to them. ix. Both the Collector shall ensure that final judgment and orders are delivered by revenue court within a period of 30 days from the date of hearing of the final arguments/filing of written arguments. x. The Additional Collectors of North and South Goa as per talukas allotted to them vide Order read in preamble at Sr. No. 2 above shall on daily basis monitor the disposal of cases and shall submit weekly report to the Secretary (Revenue) in Annexure 'A' and 'B' enclosed herewith. xi. Both Collectors shall regularly review the performance and disposal of cases of all revenue officers subordinate to them and on monthly basis submit their report to Government on performance of every revenue officer under their jurisdiction in Annexure 'C' and 'D', xii. Both Collectors shall ensure that Court Monitoring cases App is duly implemented and updated for information of the litigants, advocates and general public. xiii. All the Mamlatdars shall ensure that the Mundkar Purchase cases and tenancy purchase cases are finally disposed off within a period of six months from the date of their filing and in no case the purchase cases be kept pending for more than six months. xiv. Both Collectors shall analyze the pendency of cases in each taluka and properly assign the cases to revenue officers. The Collector shall designate the Mamlatdar having less pendency in other taluka for speedy disposal of cases by issuing appropriate orders for empowering the officers to execute the work. The Collector shall regularly assess the workload on the revenue officers. By Order and in the name of the Governor of Goa. Sd/- (Shri Sandeep Gawde) Under Secretary (Revenue-I)"

¶23To the above Order dated 14.09.2022, formats are enclosed for reporting compliances. The Additional Collector is expected to make his observations/remarks on the performance of the Mamlatdar/Joint Mamlatdar in disposing of cases pending under the Tenancy and Mundkar Legislations.

¶24The Order dated 14.09.2022 requires the Revenue Authorities to make every effort to dispose of the pending mundkar and tenancy cases within one year. The Collectors must designate special Mamlatdars who shall exclusively deal with the mundkar and tenancy court matters. The Collectors are duty-bound to ensure that the hearings before the Revenue Courts are mandatorily held once a date is fixed. The Revenue Courts are also directed to ensure that if the matters are to be adjourned, then prior intimation must be sent to both the parties and/or their advocates on record by way of SMS on their registered mobile number so as to avoid inconvenience and harassment to the litigants and their advocates. The specially designated Mamlatdars for disposal of these cases are required to hold Revenue Courts on Saturdays to ensure timely disposal of the cases.

¶25The Government's Order dated 14.09.2022 directs the Mamlatdars, etc., to take up, daily, the pending cases for more than three years so that they are disposed of at the earliest. The supervisory officials must write the APARs of their junior officials based on their performance in the disposal of Revenue cases allotted to them. The Collectors of both Districts are directed to ensure that the revenue court delivers the final judgments and orders within 30 days of hearing the final arguments/filling of written arguments. The Additional Collectors of North and South Goa must monitor the disposal of cases and submit weekly reports to the Secretary (Revenue) in the formats provided in Annexures 'A' and 'B' to the said Order.

¶26Collectors of both Districts shall regularly review the performance and disposal of cases of all revenue officers and submit reports on each revenue officer's performance under their jurisdiction in Annexures 'C' and 'D' to the said Order. In addition, both Collectors are directed to ensure that the Court Monitoring cases App is duly implemented and updated for the litigants, advocates and general public information.

¶27All the Mamlatdars are directed to ensure that the Mundkar Purchase cases and tenancy purchase cases are finally disposed of within six months from the date of their filing. The purchase cases will not be kept pending for more than six months. Both the Collectors are directed to analyze the pendency of each taluka and properly assign the cases to revenue officers. The Collector shall designate the Mamlatdar having less pendency in other taluka for speedy disposal of cases by issuing appropriate orders for empowering the officers to dispose of the cases. In short, the Collector is enjoined to regularly assess the workload on the revenue officers.

¶28The Government's initiative in issuing the Order dated

14.09.2022 is indeed appreciable. However, the Revenue Officers, including the Collectors and Additional Collectors of the two Districts, must ensure compliance lest the Government's Order dated 14.09.2022 remains a paper order. Directions issued by the Government in its Order dated 14.09.2022, if complied with all the seriousness they deserve, the problem of pendency before the mamlatdars and other authorities under the Tenancy Act and the Mundkar Act can be suitably redressed. Once this issue of pendency is addressed, over 900 cases before the Civil and District Courts could also be disposed of. As noted earlier, these cases are pending disposal because the references made to Mamlatdars, etc. have not been answered.

¶29Accordingly, we issue directions to the Collectors, Additional Collectors, Mamlatdars, Joint Mamlatdars and other Revenue Officers to strictly implement Government's Order dated 14.09.2022 and dispose of the pending cases under the Tenancy and Mundkar Acts as expeditiously as possible and in any case within the timeline set out in the Government's Order dated 14.09.2022. Furthermore, the Collectors and Additional Collectors must also implement the Government's Order dated

14.09.2022 by monitoring the disposal of cases and ensuring that the reports in the prescribed formats are regularly submitted.

¶30Though we are disposing of these petitions by issuing the above directions, we direct the Collectors of both districts to file compliance reports in this Court by 30.09.2023. These compliance reports must indicate the pendency position as of

31.03.2023 and the pendency position as of 30.09.2023. This will indicate the status of compliances. In addition, in the compliance reports, the two Collectors must at least indicate in a tabular format whether the necessary reports, as contemplated by the Order dated 14.09.2022, were submitted by the respective Mamlatdars/Joint Mamlatdars each month and State the action taken by the Collectors, Additional Collectors and the Revenue Secretary in cases of non-compliance or inadequate compliances.

¶31Copies of the compliance reports must be furnished to the Registrar (Judicial). The Registrar (Judicial) will post this matter for directions on 09.10.2023. The matter must be posted for directions even if no compliance reports are received.

¶32The Registrar (Judicial) must forward a copy of this Judgment and Order to the Collectors of North Goa and South Goa for necessary action and compliance.

¶33The Rule is disposed of in both these petitions in the above terms.

¶34There shall be no order for costs.

VALMIKI SA MENEZES, J. M. S. SONAK, J. SUCHITRA NANDAN SINGBAL Date: 2023.03.31 12:54:45 +05'30'

Suchitra IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY AT GOA WRIT PETITION NO.196/2022 WITH WRIT PETITION NO.201/2022 1. LINUS MARIO DLIMA, son of Benjamin Matias D'Lima, 64 years of age, 2. MRS CYNTHIA BERNARDO D'LIMA, aged 61 years of age, (legal heirs of late Benjamin Matias D'Lima) Both residents of 8/2/13 Bhawani Nagar, Marol Maroshi Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai – 400059. ... Petitioners Versus 1. STATE OF GOA, through its Chief Secretary, Secretariat, Porvorim, Bardez- Goa. 2. JOINT MAMLATDAR OF BARDEZ- III AT MAPUSA, Collectorate Building, Mapusa– Goa. 3. MR FRANCIS FERNANDES, resident of House No.1277/1, Khursa Vaddo, Carona, Aldona, Bardez-Goa 403523. … Respondents Mr Shane Gomes Pereira with Mr Sujay Kamulkar, Advocates for the Petitioners. Mr D. Pangam, Advocate General with Mr Geetesh Shetye (WP- 196-22) and Mr S.P. Munj (WP-201-22), Additional Government Advocates for the State. CORAM: M. S. SONAK & VALMIKI SA MENEZES, JJ. Reserved on: Pronounced on: 27th MARCH 2023 31st MARCH 2023 JUDGMENT: (Per M. S. Sonak, J.) 1. Heard Mr Shane Gomes Pereira, who appears with Mr Sujay Kamulkar for the petitioners and Mr D. Pangam, learned Advocate General who appears along with Mr Geetesh Shetye and Mr Shivdatt Munj, learned Additional Government Advocates for the State. 2. Rule in both these petitions. The Rule is made returnable immediately at the request of and with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties. 3. In both these petitions, the immediate relief was to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the Joint Mamlatdar of Bardez to dispose of the tenancy/mundkar proceedings pending before him expeditiously and preferably within a time-bound schedule. 4. Having regard to the facts and circumstances set out in the two petitions, there was no difficulty in issuing the mandamus as prayed for. Even the learned Advocate General made a statement that the Joint Mamlatdar of Bardez would dispose of the proceedings within six months. This statement was accepted, and the respective Joint Mamlatdars were directed to act accordingly. However, these petitions were not disposed of because we were informed that several tenancy and mundkar cases are pending before the Mamlatdars and the Joint Mamlatdars and further, there was a delay in disposal of such matters, primarily because the Joint Mamlatdars or the other authorities constituted under the tenancy and mundkar laws were occupied in several executive functions, as a result of which, there was no sufficient time to attend to these matters. 5. Accordingly, we directed the State to place on record the statistics of the pendency position in the districts of North Goa and South Goa. 6. The Under Secretary (Revenue) filed affidavits dated 03.10.2022 and 17.02.2023, placing on record the pendency statistics. Along with this affidavit and even otherwise, this Court was apprised of specific orders issued by the Government to deal with the pendency of matters under the Tenancy and Mundkar laws. 7. The Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act 1964 is an Act to regulate the terms of tenancy with respect to agricultural lands in the State of Goa and for matters connected therewith. This Act is a measure of "agrarian reform" enjoying substantial constitutional immunity. Similarly, the Goa Mundkars (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975 was passed to provide for better protection to mundkars against eviction from their dwelling houses and granting them rights to purchase the same and to make certain other provisions connected therewith. Both these legislations are admittedly beneficial legislations enacted to benefit the agricultural tenants and mundkars. 8. Under the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act, 1964, if any question arises whether any person is or was a tenant or should be deemed to be a tenant, then such question has to be decided by the Mamlatdar under Section 7 of the said Act. Similarly, a question as to whether any land is or is not used for agricultural purposes is also to be decided by the Mamlatdar. Section 8 impo