The Hindu : National : Goa plans to ban sale of land to foreigners

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Goa plans to ban sale of land to foreigners

Prakash Kamat

PANAJI: Faced with the problem of foreigners indiscriminately indulging in land deals in the coastal State, the Goa government is moving to amend the Revenue Act to ban the sale of land to them.

Law Minister Dayanand Narvekar announced at a public meeting in Margao on Thursday that the government was working towards a policy to ensure that the foreigners would not be allowed to purchase land.

Chief Secretary J.P. Singh told The Hindu on Friday that the government was contemplating legislation on the lines of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, which banned sale of land, particularly agricultural land, to foreigners. Owing to lack of powers to check whether the Reserve Bank of India had cleared a deal or not, the State authorities had no option but to register such deals.

According to Anupam Kishore, Joint Secretary, Debt Management, an RBI officer on deputation, who handled the controversial cases of foreigners’ land deals in Goa, the plan was to amend Section 22 of the Registration Act, 1908, empowering the State to ban the sale as part of public policy.

Panel’s study

The sale of land to foreigners had become a major issue in the recent past, with the State government setting up a special committee to study the cases.

It scrutinised over 400 cases, many of which include purchase of agricultural property by foreigners.

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