By RAJAN NARAYAN

AND A few more stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when the diabolical game of making files relating to registration of land, houses and flats assumed a diabolical dimension. For a Sunday following the week when generation next of the political class was not content with just extorting mining leases, but was thinking very big in terms of using ill-gotten gains from misuse and abuse of political power. For a Sunday following the week when generation next of the business class in the state were looking for greener pastures outside the state in the belief that the investment climate in Goa was totally vitiated. For a Sunday following the week when the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court not only struck down the anticipatory bail granted to John Fernandes, but passed strictures against the sessions judge.

DISAPPEARING FILES

AND a few stray thoughts on vested interests, in collusion with politicians and bureaucrats, making crucial files disappear. It may be recalled that, in the course of the hearings before the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on the Aldeia de Goa case, all the concerned authorities claimed that the relevant files were missing from their records. Not only the Town and Country Planning Department, but the village panchayats of Curca and the Mamlatdar office claimed that files relating to the seven star hotel project of the Aldeia de Goa group had gone missing. Similarly, there have been claims made before the district court by panchayats that files relating to several mega projects were untraceable in the records of the Planning and Development Authority, the Town and Country Planning Department and the concerned panchayats.

But the mother of all cases of making files disappear came to light on Friday December 18, when the sub-registrar whose office is located in Junta House in Panaji, filed a police complaint claiming that not just a specific file but an entire volume comprising over 600 pages had gone missing from the office of the sub registrar. Even more curiously, apparently it was only on December 14, 2009 that the sub registrar became aware that volume no 97 containing 600 pages was missing. Not surprisingly, the missing files relate not to births and deaths and marriages, but to registration of land, houses and flats. The sub-registrar’s office in Panaji caters to the whole of the Tiswadi taluka.

PROPERTY SCAMS

WHICH means that files relating to the registration of land, houses and flats in Dona Paula, Taleigao, Bambolim, Goa Velha, Santa Cruz and Merces are among the files that have gone missing. It is not a coincidence that the largest number of new housing projects, including some controversial mega projects, have come up or are coming up in the jurisdiction of the sub registrar of Tiswadi located at the Junta House. We are almost certain that these files probably relate to illegal grant of permissions and NOCs to mega housing projects in Tiswadi, particularly in Taleigao and Dona Paula which account for the most expensive real estate in the state.

SUBVERTING JUSTICE

THERE also cannot be any doubt in anyone’s mind that the alleged theft of these files is intended to subvert justice, as it happened in the case of the Aldeia de Goa files. Were these files, or in this particular case an entire record book comprising 600 pages, stolen or made to disappear by the staff of the sub-registrar’s office at the instance of vested interest?

SUB-REGISTRAR

THE curious part of course is that nobody is talking about making sub registrars or for that matter Town and Country Planning officers and panchayat secretaries and sarpanchas accountable for the convenient disappearance of critical files. The modus operandi adopted by the “thieves”, who made an entire volume number 97 disappear, is interesting because by doing so the “thieves” cannot be accused of selectively making files disappear. One wonders whether the files that have disappeared include the ownership status of government and communidade land in Tiswadi and perhaps even the ownership of the former secretariat, the Adil Shah Palace. It is not beyond the realms of absurd possibility that some private party may stake a claim to the Adil Shah Palace claiming it belonged to his ancestors as the contrary cannot be proved if the concerned files have disappeared.

The first instance of critical files relating to property in the state being subverted was uncovered by the late Norman Dantes in the early 90s when I was the editor of the Herald. Norman discovered that papers were forged to show that land belonging to a Goan Portuguese expatriate, La Martin, belonged to two old ladies, one of whom was in the nineties and was blind and the other who was in the late 80s and was in poor health. Sale deeds were fabricated to show that the properties allegedly belonging to these two old ladies had been sold to the Churchill brothers and their partners for a token amount. The Churchill brothers had planned to build a five star resort on the property.

CHURCH ROLE

THE manipulation of the records was very thorough and even the matriz records had been tampered with. But the Churchill brothers made one major mistake. They went to the extent of forging the inventory certificate issued by the district judge. Norman, in his painstaking investigation managed to expose the forgery, which led to the cancellation of the sales deed entered into by the Churchill brothers with the old ladies, who had no claim to the property, and ensured that the property went to the original owners who had settled in Portugal. We do not know how many such rigging of sale deeds has taken place over the years. But while sale deeds may have been rigged in the past, making relevant files disappear or hold ledgers or volumes disappear is a relatively new phenomenon.

AND a few stray observations on the increasing greed not only of politicians in power but their kith and kin. In the good, old or bad days, politicians were satisfied with kickbacks of varying degrees when they sanctioned a project or allotted a plot in the industrial estates or issued an excise license. In recent years, however, the art of extortion has been refined to such a degree that Babush Monserrate is alleged to have demanded a percentage of the profits of housing projects before agreeing to change of zone when he was drawing up the notorious Regional Plan 2011, which was scrapped due to widespread public protest under the leadership of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan. Since the regional plan was frozen, the target of extortion is now the mining industry.

ROY AIRLINE

UNLIKE in the past, politicians are not content with kickbacks for extending various licenses and NOCs needed to undertake mining operations in the state. They are not content with a one time kickback. They want a perennial source of money. So much so, politicians and their kith and kin have been demanding that mines owned by the lessees should be sublet to them. As a consequence, virtually everyone in the cabinet has become a mine owner. It is well known that the Chief Minister’s son-in-law Raj Dempo has got into the mining business in a very major way. In addition to the Chief Minister’s son-in-law, the Urban Development minister, Joaquim Alemao, is also known to be running several mines. Among the other politicians who are operating mining leases are allegedly the son of Victoria Fernandes, Rudolf Fernandes, and the son of the Home Minister Ravi Naik, Roy Naik.

RUDOLF MINE

WHILE in the past Victoria Fernandes has consistently denied that her son Rudolf was involved in mining operations, replies to Assembly questions in the just concluded winter session of the Legislative Assembly lists Rudolf Fernandes as among the many individuals who have been granted mining leases. Not surprisingly, beyond a point, Manohar Parrikar did not sustain his attack and expose of politicians involved in mining operations, both legal and illegal. The ill-gotten gains from mining are sought to be invested in very innovative ways. I understand that the son of Ravi Naik, who is alleged to be involved in narcotics besides mining, is allegedly keen on starting his own airline. Apparently when he was told that it would involve an investment of Rs. 2500 crore, with an immediate down payment of Rs. 500 crore, Roy Naik was unfazed and was allegedly willing to produce the resources. Maybe Roy Naik is taking his cue from Columbian drug lords who have fleets of aircraft and use it to smuggle narcotics.

AND a few stray thoughts on the generation next among industrialists and business houses in the state. The generation next is apparently unanimous that Goa is no longer a viable investment opportunity. The levels of corruption in Goa have become so extortionate that it is not viable to do business in the state any longer. Many members of generation next of prominent industrial families in Goa have told me quite bluntly that they have no intention of meeting the extortionate demands of politicians and bureaucrats. Indeed it is the intolerable levels of corruption which led Srinivas Dempo to exit the mining industry and sell his family stake in the mining industry to the Agarwal-owned Vedanta Group, which now controls Sesa Goa. While the Generation Next of other leading industrial houses have not taken the drastic step of exiting the iron ore business, all their new operations whether in mining or other areas are outside the state. Many of the traditional mining houses have been expanding their operations in neighbouring Sindhudurg and in Jharkhand where the extortion levels are still reasonable.

SWAZILAND OPTION

AT least one leading mining house has decided to focus mining operations in Swaziland in Africa where there are huge mining reserves and the only person you have to keep happy is the king. Those who have plans to diversify into the booming hospitality and real estate sectors have also found the going very tough. A leading member of Generation Next, who has diversified into real estate, told me recently that he does not look for properties or land in excess of 10,000 sq ms. Apparently the moment a real estate developer starts looking for land of over 10,000 sq ms, all the sharks ranging from politicians to sarpanchas to NGOs start demanding extortion money. Getting into the hospitality business is not an option because of the freeze on conversions and the CRZ regulations. Frustrated over trying to put up a five star hotel in Goa, the generation next industrialist has decided to put up a hotel in Maldives instead. The generation next of traditional Goan business houses are convinced that it is no longer viable to run any business enterprise in Goa.

SOCIAL CONCERNS

AND speaking of generation next, despite their disenchantment with the political setup they seem to be much more conscious of their social responsibilities. Srinivas Dempo has been a pioneer in supporting and encouraging outstanding sports talent in the state, besides strengthening the educational institutions set up by his grandfather. On Liberation Day, the Fomento family got together with the Dempo family when Amber Timblo and Srinivas Dempo announced the setting up of a joint education trust for providing full scholarships to Goan students wishing to pursue higher studies in the UK. The two families together have contributed about Rs. Ten crore to enable Goan students to pursue higher studies in any discipline in the UK.

They have also decided to replenish the corpus of the D’Souza scholarships, which has been offering Goan students funds for studying in the UK. The D’Souza scholarship, which has benefited many Goans, was apparently set up by a Goan businessman settled in the UK who donated a million pounds as corpus. Interestingly, the donation was made anonymously and attempts to trace or track down the generous donor have been unsuccessful. The new foundation has decided to revive the D’Souza scholarships by contributing to the depleted corpus. But to ensure that they will not be vulnerable to political and other pressures, the new foundation set up by the Timblo (Auduth Timblo) Group and Srinivas Dempo have asked the British Council, which manages the D’Souza scholarship, to handle the selection of candidates for the new foundation scholarships also.

Talking of industrialists who have been serious about their corporate responsibility, one cannot forget the Salgaocars (V M Salgaocar Group) who have been running the Sunaparant, the only newspaper in the official language of the state despite incurring huge losses. Dattaraj Salgaocar has also been supporting publishing activity and recently started the Aparanta Centre for Fine Arts to provide an impetus to creative activity in Goa. The two industrialists who engage in a great deal of charity without seeking publicity are Anil Counto, who supports several good causes including the Mushtifund School and the Disha School for the handicapped, and Nana Bandekar, who is always willing to support a worthy cause.

INFAMOUS JOHN

AND a few stray thoughts on the infamous John Fernandes, who has now been officially proclaimed an absconder. It may be recalled that John Fernandes disappeared from Goa the moment the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court struck down the anticipatory bail granted to him by the Session’s Court. The Supreme Court has also refused to interfere with the verdict of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court. The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has passed strictures against the Sessions Court which granted anticipatory bail to John Fernandes. The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has pointed out that the twelve injuries and the bruises on the victim during medical examination clearly established that she had put up resistance. Calling the alleged rape attempt a crime against human dignity, the High Court has commented that the lower court displayed a lack of sensitivity.

The High Court has pointed out that the accused had deliberately got the victim drunk to carry out his premeditative intention to sexually assault the victim. The High Court has also bought to record the fact that the medical examination showed that the victim was disoriented, suggesting that her drink had been spiked. Taking on the Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, the Court has observed that the victim is of Russian nationality.

PERMISSIVENESS

“PERMISSIVENESS of Western society degenerates into tolerance for immoral excess but such tolerance is for promoting individual liberty. The corollary is that even if the victim allowed herself to be entertained, it could not be interpreted that she had made herself vulnerable to rape and therefore was responsible for the misfortune which had befallen her.” The Court has reiterated that the evidence on record shows that she was not a consenting party and that the fact that the police had not recovered the clothes John Fernandes had worn on the day of the alleged rape implies that there have been attempts to destroy evidence. Maybe Dr. Pramod Salgaocar, the chairperson of the Women’s Commission, has a point when she suggested to me that the solution would be to lock up men and not allow them to go out after 10 pm.