PANJIM: While the Revolutionary Goans got almost 10 per cent votes in the recently concluded Assembly elections, having used their Person of Goan Origin (POGO bill) to woo Goans, mainly riding on a wave of support and donations from foreign Goans, the very foundation of the bill, the definition of persons of Goan origin, fails to pass basic legal scrutiny.
If one goes by the considered opinion of legal
experts, this bill was shockingly “marketed” without discussing the basic constitutional gaps in the proposed bill.
The bill, (which obviously was contemplated) and became a major election plant for the Revolutionary Goans Party defines a person of Goan origin as “A person of Goan Origin” of the state of Goa shall mean a person who is or whose either parent or grandparent was born in Goa prior to 20 December 1961 or who had a permanent habitation in Goa prior to 20th December 1961 and who were citizens of India post-liberation irrespective of nationality or passport they hold currently.
Those who fit this definition, according to the proposed bill would be entitled to loans, EDC loans, Mediclaim, agricultural subsidies and auction lease and purchase comunidade land, etc.
The bill was marketed intensely without underlining those basic laws governing the country and the benefits of schemes would not allow those who do not have Indian nationality.
In a Herald report on March 13, sons and daughters of the soil, true blue Goans had strong opinions on RG. Viana Fernandes of Cansaulim said, “Why is Manoj Parab fooling Goans. He should speak the truth.” She also spoke about RGs stand on migrants and said, “A major chunk of Goa has been concretized and migrants don’t own those concrete structures.”
Gajanan Naik, a lawyer from VM Salgaoncar College specializing in Constitutional law, put up a post on his blog on the bill which stated, “Since the Constitution of India doesn’t entertain dual citizenship, the definition of a person of Goan origin itself becomes null and void.” It further stated, “any act passed under the Indian Constitution applies to Indian citizens. Furthermore, the bill creates a new category that includes even non-Indian nationals who get priority over current citizens holding a Goa domicile as per current law. This is directly in contravention with the universally accepted concept of citizenship as well as Article 14 of the Indian constitution that provides equal treatment to all Indian citizens.”
Meanwhile ,Adv Ryan Menezes a senior High Court Lawyer also mentioned, “All recruitments will have to be done as per recruitment rules,” and stated that all applications to public positions in India require Indian citizenship.
Another lawyer with a noted grasp on constitutional matters Adv Radharao Gracias said the bill has been drafted without thinking of the legal implications. “The (POGO bill) cannot go beyond the limits and cannot grant benefits to non-Indians.” He also importantly mentioned that the issue of citizenship is in the union list and no bill can reduce the effect of the union list.
Some political observers and former public representatives like Herculano Dourado, former MLA had told Herald in its earlier report, indicating why such bills with the sole objective of getting support from NRI Goans, living in London. “RG is not a political party. RG is the right -left-center hand of RSS. The funds of RG is through Goans working abroad.”
The feeling among many sections is that the RG waved their proposed POGO bill in each of the constituencies and promised a dream mainly to Goans abroad, who funded the party, during election time.
As Adv Gajanan Naik’s post states, “Overall, this bill isn’t even worth the paper over which it is written and deserves nobody’s time, forget that of the Assembly but not even of the lay citizens of India.”