Margao, April 26 (TNN): "Goa deserves a separate high court," observed retired justice Suresh Hospet on Saturday during his key note address at the seminar on 'Independent high court for the state of Goa' organized by the South Goa advocates association at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
Remarking that it is an injustice to Goans to have to be under the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court despite being an independent state, the retired judge opined that "the deliberations of the various speakers show a clear verdict in your favour and you deserve your own high court in the state of Goa. It is time for an independent high court. The federal structure of a state has a separate legislature, executive and judiciary so as to manage its affairs in its own way."
Association president Rajeev Gomes compared Goa to another small state of Sikkim that has its own high court despite Goa having a better literacy rate and more population than India's second smallest state.
Urging the association to draft a bill that he would move in the legislative assembly as a private member's bill, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai quipped that after Goa obtained statehood, there should have been an independent high court.
Remarking that "the mandate given by the people during the Opinion Poll conducted on January 16, 1967, has been defeated and it is a contempt for the people of Goa not to have its own court", former MLA Radharao Gracias said it was an insult to a Goan's self-esteem and urged the advocates present to pressurize their respective MLAs in this regard. Stating that Goa had its own judiciary under Portuguese rule, Brian D'Lima said, "The small northeast states of Manipur and Meghalaya are part of the Guwahati high court but there is no legal impediment in constituting the Goa high court."
Others who spoke included former Lok Sabha MP Amrut Kansar, Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, Anacleto Viegas, Aires Rodrigues, Victor Diniz, Zeller D'Souza and Judas Chagas e Silva. A unanimous resolution was also moved urging the state government to take immediate measures to establish a high court for Goa.