SWR’s representative told HC that Railways officials were not cooperating in giving responses on land ownership in Goa

SWR’s representative told HC that Railways officials were not cooperating in giving responses on land ownership in Goa

HC bench recorded SWR’s PP Singh’s submissions where he blamed Railways officials of passing the buck in giving evidence of its ownership of lands it was ‘encroaching’ in South Goa for double tracking

Team Herald

VELSAO: The legal representative of the South Western Railway (SWR) P P Singh has stated in court that he has difficulty in filing a reply on behalf of SWR due to non-cooperation from the Railway authorities.

The counsel made this admission during the recent hearing in the High Court of Bombay at Goa in connection with a writ petition filed by Velsao resident Ashok Souza and others against the Mormugao Deputy Collector and others seeking a reply from SWR, on providing evidence of land ownership areas where it has allegedly encroached into private property.

This was recorded in one of the orders of the Bench of Justices Bharat Deshpande and Mahesh Sonak on Nov 29, 2022, wherein P P Singh sought more time from South Western Railway who he was representing in Court. SWR is undertaking the contentious double-tracking project through Rail Vikas Nigam Limited.

The bench in its November 29 order stated “Mr PP Singh states that the officers of South Western Railway are not rendering full cooperation to him. ….. one of the officers whom he contacted points out to another and the other officer points out to the first. In short, despite time being granted, no reply is coming on behalf of South Western Railway.”

This is significant as the residents of Velsao including the Velsao-Pale-Issorcim Village Panchayat have been demanding that Railway authorities produce documents to support its ownership claims on land in the village, where the double tracking work is underway.