Panaji, Oct 19 (TOI): A gaunkar of Mormugao comunidade has challenged the election and formation of Mormugao council, alleging that the constitutional requirement of the state assuming landlordism and forming revenue villages has not been complied with.

Andre Pereira, a Mormugao comunidade gaunkar, has petitioned the chief minister and chief secretary, stating that the local self-governing bodies, municipalities and panchayats, are unauthentic bodies in the absence of abolition of proprietorships, titles and grants of lands.

Though the state government has belatedly enacted Goa (Abolition of Proprietorships, Titles and Grants of Lands) Act, 2014, it has failed to achieve the objectives of abolition of proprietorship and titles.

Explaining further, Pereira said that the central government abolished land ownership rights in Daman in 1962, and Goa, as a union territory enacted a similar legislation for Diu in 1971.

"Every citizen is equal in Daman and Diu. There is neither tenancy nor landlordism in these districts, as in other states in India, and the state being the only landlord, they pay ground rent to the state, unlike Goa," Pereira told TOI on Sunday.

But, though Goa followed Daman and Diu, the Goa (Abolition of Proprietorships, Titles and Grants of Lands) Act, 2014, is just a piece of paper without any implementation of relevant provisions, he pointed out. The state administration is carrying on functions of a proprietor through its revenue authorities without acquiring the proprietorship to the land from private holders as required under the constitution. Hence, the kind of citizens/population eligible to be legitimate electorate in terms of provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951, is yet to come into existence in Goa, he alleged.

"The formation of the municipalities and village panchayats should be in areas covered by the state landlordism, which is absent in Goa," he said.