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Commission submits report on fraud land deals; Goa CM promises action
Pramod Sawant told reporters that the commission’s recommendations would be examined and action taken to retrieve prime properties
PANAJI: A one-man commission led by justice VK Jadhav (retd), which was appointed to investigate allegations of fraudulent land deals in Goa, handed over its report to chief minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday.
Sawant told reporters that the commission’s recommendations would be examined and action taken to retrieve prime properties, including those belonging to the government that have been fraudulently sold to unsuspecting buyers.
“The state government will examine and implement its recommendations. The government is keen to protect Goan lands. Necessary land reforms, laws, actions will be taken on priority basis,” the chief minister said.
“Lakhs of square metres of land belonging to Goans were being sold by third parties through forging documents. Not just that, no man’s land, government land and other such lands were being sold through falsifying documents. This has been going on for the last 15-20 years and we were able to break it... and all of it has stopped. If we hadn’t done this then lots more land would have been sold,” the chief minister said, adding he considered it as “a great achievement of my tenure as chief minister.”
“The question now is of bringing the government land back to the government and other lands... the subsequent process of filing chargesheet. No one will be spared,”
In June 2022, the state government announced the setting up of the commission to probe fraudulent land deals involving the forgery of archival documents. The commission held its first sitting in January after the crime branch’s special investigation team registered 111 cases of land grabbing involving 93 parcels of land measuring 1.5 lakh square metres across Goa.
“Goa being one of the most sought-after destinations has been the target of such criminals involved in illegal land grabbing. We will leave no stone unturned to protect the land of Goa and the interest of Goans,” Sawant said.
