Goa Opposition members disrupt House over disallowed land conversion question

The Goa legislative assembly witnessed ruckus on the opening day of the monsoon session on Monday after members of the Opposition stormed into the well of the House to protest a decision by the Speaker to disallow three questions concerning land conversion by the Town and Country Planning Department, citing Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Goa legislative assembly.

Opposition leader Yuri Alemão of Congress, who was among the legislators later marshalled out, said the Speaker disallowed three questions.

The questions raised jointly by six opposition members sought details about lands in Goa being arbitrarily moved into a ‘non-developable area’—a type of zone that is yet to be defined under the Town and Country Panning (TCP) Act. They were denied using obscure provisions of the Rules, he said.

“The question was simply seeking the definition of No Developable Area (NDA), the number of cases approved and reasons and details, whether lands could be declared as NDA without first amending the Act, whether these declarations were challenged in court and the parameters and standard operating procedures for declaring lands as non-developable area,” Alemão said.

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He said the Speaker denied the question quoting Rules 37(3) (Offensive or defamatory assembly questions), 37(8) (questions relating to sub-judice matters), 37(11) (denying any admissibility based on trivial or meaningless questions) and 37(20), even though, according to him, nothing in the question violated the cited rules.

“We demand to know why the question was denied. The people of Goa deserve to know, our rights as MLAs are being violated,” Alemão said.

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Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar said he disallowed the questions for multiple violations including the fact that the issue of land conversion is currently being litigated before the Bombay High Court at Goa.

“Although the intent of the honourable members to seek information regarding these LAQs has been honest, the said question seeks village-wise area details of no-development areas during the last three years across the entire state of Goa indicating survey numbers, village talukas, area involved, and whether permission technical clearance, zone correction, conversion proposals, or developmental approvals have been granted in the past. In the instant case, section 39A under which NDA is being notified, the matter is sub judice before the Bombay high court at Goa filed by Goa Foundation against the state of Goa and others,” he said.