Chapter I Chapter I

Preliminary

1. (1) This Act may be called the Goa 1[Omitted] Mundkars (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of the district of Goa of the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

1. (a) “Administrative Tribunal” means the Administrative Tribunal constituted under the Goa, Daman and Diu Administrative Tribunal Act, 1965; 6 of1965.
2. (b) “agricultural labourer” means a person whose principal means of livelihood is the income he gets as wages either in cash or in kind in connection with the agricultural operations he performs;
3. (c) “agriculture” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes horticulture, the raising of crops of coconut, arecanut, cashew or mango gardens and dairy farming;
4. (d) “agricultural land” means the land used either for the purpose of agriculture or for purposes ancillary thereto;
5. (e) “appointed date” means the date on which this Act comes into force;
6. (f) “bhatkar” means a person who owns the land on which the mundkar has a dwelling house;
7. (g) “Chief Town Planner” means an officer appointed by the Government to enforce Town Planning Regulations in the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu;
8. (h) “Collector” means the Collector of the district and includes any other officer appointed by the Government to exercise and perform the powers and functions of a Collector under this Act;
   • (i) “dwelling house” means the house in which mundkar resides with a fixed habitation 2[ ] and includes—
   • (i) (a) the land on which the dwelling house is standing and the land around and appurtenant to such dwelling house, subject to a maximum limit of five meters, if the land is 3[on the appointed date] within the jurisdiction of a village panchayat, and two metres, if it is not within such jurisdiction, from the outer walls of the dwelling house:

Provided that, where the distance between the outer walls of the dwelling house of the mundkar and of the house of the bhatkar, or between the outer walls of the dwelling house of a mundkar and of the dwelling house or houses of one or more mundkars, is less than double the aforesaid limit the land appurtenant to such dwelling house shall be half of the land lying between the outer walls of the dwelling house of such mundkar and the bhatkar or between the outer walls of the dwelling house of such mundkar and the outer walls of the dwelling house or houses of such other mundkar or mundkars, as the case may be; or

1. (b) three hundred square metres of land including the land on which the dwelling house is standing:

Provided that where

4[on the appointed date] the dwelling house is within the jurisdiction of a municipal council, the dwelling house shall include two hundred square metres of land including the land on which the dwelling house is standing: Provided further that where there is on the appointed date in the property of the bhatkar, the house of the bhatkar or a dwelling house of one or more than one mundkar, and the total extent of the land is inadequate to provide each of them the extent indicated in this clause, the dwelling house shall include, in the absence of any agreement, the land apportioned in equal shares, as far as practicable, by the Mamlatdar. Explanation I.— The option contemplated under this clause shall be exercised by the Mundkar in the manner prescribed. Explanation II.— For the purpose of this clause “house” means an entity in itself and shall not include a Dharmashala or such other building belonging to or in possession of a religious or charitable institution and is used for temporary accommodation and such other building as may be meant for letting out on hire and a portion of which has been let out.

1. (ii) the cattle shed, stable, pig-sty, workshop or such other structure connected with the business or profession of the mundkar; and
2. (iii) the customary easement, if any, which the residents of the dwelling house have been enjoying for access to a public road or a well or any other place;

1. (j) “factory” has the meaning assigned to it in clause (m) of section 2 Central Act of the Factories Act, 1948; 63 of 1948.
2. (k) “Government” means the Administrator of the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution;

1. (1) “local authority” means a municipal council established under the Goa, Daman

and Diu Municipalities Act, 1969 or a village Panchayat established under the

Goa, Daman and Diu Village Panchayats Regulation, 1962;

1. (m) “Mamlatdar” has the meaning assigned to it in clause (c) of section 2 of the Goa, Daman and Diu Mamlatdar‟s Court Act, 1966;
2. (n) “member of the family” means—
   • (i) in relation to a mundkar who is an individual, his spouse, son, unmarried daughter and includes father, mother, grandson, widowed daughter, widowed grand- daughter solely dependent on the mundkar for maintenance;
   • (ii) in relation to a mundkar who is a joint Hindu family, the members of such a family;
   • (iii) in relation to joint owners other than a joint Hindu family, the members of the family as indicated in sub-clause (i) in relation to each of such joint owners;
3. (o) “mine” has the meaning assigned to it in clause (j) of sub-section Central Act

1. (1) of section 2 of the Mines Act, 1952; 35 of 1952.
   • (p) “mundkar” means a person who, with the consent of the bhatkar or the person acting or purporting to act on behalf of the bhatkar lawfully resides with a fixed habitation in a dwelling house with or without obligation to render any services to the bhatkar and includes a member of his family but does not include—
     • (i) a person paying rent to the bhatkar for the occupation of the house;
     • (ii) a domestic servant or a chowkidar who is paid wages and who resides in an out-house, house-compound or other portion of his employer‟s residence;
     • (iii) a person employed in a mill, factory, mine, workshop or a commercial establishment and is residing in the premises belonging to the owner or person in charge of such mill, factory, mine, workshop or commercial establishment, in connection with his employment in such mill, factory, mine workshop or commercial establishment; and
     • (iv) a person residing in the whole or part of a house belonging to another person or in an out-house existing in the compound of the house, as a care-taker of the said house or for purposes of maintaining it in habitable condition.

Explanation.— A person shall be deemed to be lawfully residing with the consent of the bhatkar in a dwelling house if such person resides in it for a period exceeding one year prior to the appointed date and the bhatkar has not initiated any proceedings, during the said period of one year, to evict such person from the dwelling house, through a competent court of law, on the ground that such person was a trespasser or, having so initiated such proceedings, does not succeed in obtaining a decree for the eviction of such person.

1. (q) “person” includes a joint Hindu Family;
2. (r) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
3. (s) “Provedoria de Assistencia Publica” means the Institute of Public Assistance established under the enactment Legislative Diploma No. 1984 dated 14th April, 1960;
4. (t) “village artisan” means a person whose principal means of livelihood is the income he derives from working as an artisan in a village.