HIGH COURT VERDICT ON SEZ BOOSTS ACTIVISTS by Nisser Dias

If govt is sincere, then it should initiate CBI probe into the matter

The recent judgement by the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court in petition against the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) has reposed the faith of the people of Goa specially the activists in the judiciary. It was not that we did not have faith in it but the recent controversies involving the judges across the country did have a negative impact on the minds of the masses as judiciary is the last hope of every Indian fighting against the highly corrupt politicians and equally corrupt bureaucracy.

But when the integrity of the some judges across the country is questioned and strictures are passed against judicial cadre that too by the Supreme Court, the perception of the lay man is rattled.

But with a landmark judgement against the system adopted by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation to allot land to the SEZ promoters has opened a can of worms and if the Digambar Kamat led government sincerely investigates the controversial land deal, lot of heads are going to roll and plenty of skeletons are going to tumble out of the closets and it must happen so as to send a message to all corrupt politicians and officials that truth never remains hidden and those involved in bleeding the state of its land and resources should be severely punished.

The SEZ promoters for sometime now have been demanding compensation from the government for incurring a huge financial loss. Today after the verdict of the High Court, it has become very clear and evident that these same businessmen had tried to commit fraud on the state and in the bargain due to the perseverance and diligence of NGO’s like the SEZ Virodhi Manch (SVM) who pursued the matter in the High Court and elicited a verdict in its favour thereby exposing the evil designs of these businessmen. The state government should now not only confiscate the land allotted to these real estate developers but also stop them from conducting any business in the state and at the same time impose huge fines for wasting exchequer’s money.

Coming to the GIDC board of directors, their tenure should be immediately terminated at the same time if the same personalities are serving on other Boards the positions should be vacated. Over and above the remunerations paid to them during the allotment of land to set-up SEZs should be recovered with interest and deposited in the government treasury. Now remains the chairman of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation Board who happens to be a political appointee. He too should be thoroughly investigated by agencies like the CBI, Income Tax and anti-corruption bureau. Thirdly if the directors along with chairman were pressurized by senior members of political party or be it the ministers at the time of allotment of land then they should also be investigated.

The government should also agree to the demand made by Goa’s Movement Against SEZ (GMAS) convenor Mathany Saldanha for judicial probe as he has pointed out that the High Court has observed that undue haste and departure from laid down procedure while scrutinizing the applications for land properly. Saldanha has urged the need to probe this as he feels that kickbacks were involved. The same yard stick used in the Common Wealth Games, Adarsh Housing society scam and the 2G Spectrum scam should also be applied here as it is the same party which is ruling at the centre and here, furthermore SEZ was mooted by the Congress government when it took over the reins from Manohar Parrikar led coalition government.

If the government is sincere and initiates CBI investigation into the allotment of land for SEZ, lot of heads of politicians within the Congress will roll thereby exposing fountainhead of corruption and the High Court through it judgement has done just that. It is given that fillip or rather a push to the government to commence a criminal enquiry into the matter and the government should not let go of this opportunity. But politicians being politicians and that too from the same political party will surely try to save their kind but if NGO’s like SEZ Virodhi Manch and veteran activists like Mathany keep up the heat, government will have no option but give in to the pressures of the people.

The High Court verdict has also given the opposition BJP a lot of fodder to maul the Congress government in the state. They too should be sincere enough to get to the bottom of the entire scam to unearth the truth behind the allotment of land. However they should resist from using it to get political mileage or benefit out of the episode. The state unit of the BJP should emulate their leaders at the centre who raised the pitch against former Union minister of state Shashi Tharoor forcing the Congress party to demand his resignation as minister. Similar strategies were used in Adarsh housing scam and 2G scam thereby forcing Maharashtra chief minister and Union Telecom minister to step down. However when a land scam involving Karnataka chief minister was exposed the BJP let their man continue in office. Goa BJP should not adopt such double standards.

At the same time SEZ Virodhi Manch and GMAS should not handover the baton completely to the BJP because without political interference backing they has covered a lot of ground and has emerged victorious so far. But this is not the end of it, what will happen in the days or months to come is anybody’s guess as experience tells us that the successive governments have never been sincere to aspiration of the people but to their kind only. Therefore the SEZ Virodhi Manch should not lower its guard but be as vigilant as ever to face and fight anti Goa and Goans machination of the government.