The Goa government of Tuesday introduced the Goa Public Records Bill, 2023, in the Assembly to curb the “tampering and vandalising of public records leading to land frauds in Goa”.
The Bill was introduce to regulate the “management, administration and preservation of public records of the government”. The Bill allows the appointment of a records officer in each department and punishment for those found violating the law.
Once passed, the Bill will mandate that every record-creating agency (government ministry, department or state-run or funded corporation or autonomous body) shall appoint a records officer, who shall be in charge of the records room.
According to the Bill, the records officer will have to ensure proper arrangement, maintenance and preservation of public records under his charge, among other responsibilities as well as to “take appropriate action for the recovery or restoration of such public record” in the event of any unauthorised removal, destruction, defacement or alteration of any public records under his charge.
The Bill also seeks strict punishment, including up to five years of imprisonment for those who violate the law.
{{/usCountry}}The Bill also seeks strict punishment, including up to five years of imprisonment for those who violate the law.
{{/usCountry}}“Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of section 4 (unauthorisedly taking official records outside the state) or section 8 (destruction of records) shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both,” the Bill states.
Goa has witnessed more than 120 cases of land fraud that came to light over the last one year in which records, including archival records and sale deeds, were taken out of the state’s archives department and either destroyed or replaced with fake documents in a bid to change the names of the original owners of the land and ancestral lineage.
For decades, a series of fraudulent property dealings have been reported in Goa. According to chief minister Pramod Sawant, Goa has become a hotbed of fraudulent land deals, which involves huge scams which prompted him to set up a special investigation team.
The state government had previously formed a special investigation team to probe the land fraud cases, dozens of cases are currently under investigation.