Foreign owned property in Goa, (Part One)

greenchutney

yeah...i am wondering where he got the portuguese thing....atleast from my understanding it was konkani, marathi or english..or maybe hindi, kannada or malayalam..?..dont we enough languages here?

is he looking at laws from 1600s [or was it 1960?] or whenever portugal owned goa..and citing these for property ownership/rights of foreigners? i hope not!

greenchutney

second, third and hundredth that....about the courts in india..my friend is fighting a property case on a family dispute for the last fifteen years. now he wishes he had walked away from it all inspite of the principle, sentimentality and what not....its been a huge time and what not waste for him.

WTO?..trying quoting WTO in the court in India..or take an indian citizen to The hague..Why EU may not give any visas for indian citizens to appear to defend and you are going to pick the tab for that? come talk to me about WTO after your governments are done with those 70% state subsidies and what not...thank you.

luca

As Nick said- you do have to check the old papers and they are in Portuguese. If you do not- plain and simple- someone could still lay claim to the land even though you think you have bought it fair and square. Another point- The Portuguese Civil Code laws still apply regarding property and civil matters in Goa. Hence, here you would do better to hire a Goan lawyer. If as CRVLVR states all lawyers in India are equally competent then you certainly would not have high profile lawyers (also,world over). Capability counts and learning to speak English at a very early age has definitely been the preserve of the Indian rather than the local Goan. However, the new generation is fast catching up.

GoanCanuck

As far as land documents are concerned it is a fact that many of them are still in Portuguese. Why? Becuase these documents were drafted prior to 1961 when the official language for legal matters was Portuguese.

It is also a fact that the Portuguese Civil Code is still legally in existence across Goa. Why? Because the Government of India decided at the time of liberation to continue using it.

Having a lawyer who is familiar with the Portuguese language is definitely an advantage while conducting property realted transactions.

GoanCanuck

India being a member of the WTO has no bearing whatsoever as far as buying property anywhere in India is concerned. If your argument was valid then any foreign company would be able to buy property in Kashmir which they are clearly barred from doing so.

lonefemaletraveller

I am in Goa for the next four weeks. Anyone else here...?

Its easier for me to get emails at gonetoindia@gmail.com
if anyone wants to get in touch.

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bellcrank

I am married to a British citizen who was born in India and at one time held a British passport. She has a PIO card and so do I, by virtue of marriage. The PIO card does not qualify me to buy immoveable property in India as the RBI definition of a PIO as per FEMA regulations is someone who's father or grandfather was born in India. Confusing, but we've been through all this and 2 years ago we purchased a bungalow in Goa in her name. This is quite legal and we travel on our PIO cards.

Subsequently, we formed a company and purchased a guest house in the company's name, both of us being directors. We have a manager and staff there, and we travel to Goa for a week or two, maybe 5 or 6 times a year. There is absolutely no requirement for us to have a business visa, unless we plan to live in India and run the business ourselves (and dissolve the company).

Buying property in India is not for the fainthearted, but can be done quite legally with the help of a good lawyer and chartered accountant. Anf if you do go the company/business route don't forget licences for the said business, sales tax (luxury tax) registration, tourist office reg, informing utility companies the property is commercial, house tax to commercial rates and many other niggling things. Failure to to do so results in punitive fines(even by Western standards) or worse!

luca

Good advice there from Bellcrank. It's always seems easier when you have already gone through the process. However, the faint hearted don't and the negative naysayers won't.

sirensongs

This story may repeat some of the information above...but was just posted to Yahoo India News today. Curious, considering that India is generally welcoming foreign investors now. I wonder if the buyers were foreign but "of Indian origin" - that is, born and raised in another country and held foreign citizenship, never lived or worked in India, but had perhaps one Indian parent - would that satisfy the protestors' criteria for being Indian enough?

Goans raise alarm over foreign occupation.
Morjim (Goa), July 22 (ANI): Once bitten, twice shy. Having suffered Portuguese rule for years, a number of Goans have expressed fears of losing their homeland to foreigners again.

This worry has surfaced again in the wake of reports of sale and registration of land to people of non-Indian origin. [notice they did not say "to non-citizens"]

Resident of Morjim, a small village along the coast have decided to launch an agitation against the indiscriminate selling and registration of land to people of non-Indian origins. The 'Goa Bachao Manch' (Save Goa Forum), has decided to approach the local administration on the transfer of land to foreign nationals.

According to the agitators, a whopping 12,50,000 square metres of land in Goa have changed hands to foreign nationals, mostly through flouted norms.

"Our freedom fighters have given life to this motherland and our motherland is not just for selling to the foreigners. We have seen the rule of the foreigners. The Portuguese ruled here for 450 years and we have gone through that. We don't want foreigners to purchase land here, violating the sections...VIP sections," Rajan Ghate, the President of the Save Goa Front said.

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deutchesafrikar12

in the Times of Indian ....
Holiday, but don’t stay, says Goa CM
-------------------------------------

PANAJI: In the wake of a controversy regarding foreigners buying huge plots of lands in Goa, Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane on Wednesday said the state government would urge the Centre to curtail the duration of tourist visas from six months to three months.
“People arriving on tourist visas should not be allowed to stay for six months,” Rane said.
The state government recently revealed that 482 foreigners had purchased some 12 lakh square metres of land in the state.
Local activists under the banner of Goa Bachao Andolan protested against the purchase of properties by foreigners.
The Goa government will write to the Centre, asking it to curtail the tourist visa period from six months to three months, Rane said.
PTI

sirensongs

Strange, here in Nepal there is talk of extending the tourist visa, now limited to 5 months in any calendar year - for the purpose of letting foreign tourists spend *more* time and therefore, money here.

They still can't own property in Nepal, but that's a separate question. If Goa doesn't want foreigners buying land, they should just enforce their existing laws...don't take it out on the tourists, the vast majority of whom have no intention of staying or buying.

These same agitators would no doubt get very angry if Indians were not allowed to invest in foreign businesses or own property outside India (like Laxmi Mittal who holds an Indian passport and owns an historic castle in England).

Digital Drifter

IF they really get it worked out, a lot of foreign nationals are going ot lose their shirt. financially. Make it an election issue, then the LAW will be changed to accomodate goan people. A lot of the land transfers will be declared retroactively illegal. & the same land sharks will sell it back to the goans. Now, that what's I call playing both sides.

I suppose they must have a reason for the agitating as it's "flouted norms", if they can prove that. OTOH, if it's rich NRIs buying, then they're so shot.

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Digital Drifter

Of course, they get angry because another OUTSIDER like a russian company is allowed to invest but NOT another OUTSIDER who's decidedly not of European origin. that's the nub. See, if anyone is allowed to buy/own(which their laws says they can), then it really is SUPPOSED to mean everyone including Indians.

Now, Indian land laws may be discrimnatory in NOT allowing foreigners to own land but that's the way the law is. Which part of "NO" is difficult ot understand?

sirensongs

This is sort of begging the question...if they don't like being discriminated against on a racial basis, why do their own laws do the same?

Mittal was successful in buying that steel firm, of course...and he does own major property in UK. Of course - How could a major player, a country like the UK do otherwise?

France has proven their small-mindedness by refusing to sell Taittinger champagne to any but a French national. I wouldn't think other world powers would wish to follow that example.

It seems India wants to play World Power with the big boys, demand equal treatment in the international arena, then revert to provincial, xenophobic isolationist policy when it's convenient for them.

And this raises the question of who is "Indian." Why is Mittal, who doesn't invest money here and hasn't lived here for years, "Indian" while Sonia Gandhi is not? or rather, is only considered Indian on paper?

Nick-H

Let each and every country look after itself and its own people first.

Remember the terminology of the 60s? Property is theft, lets liberate something from some-one who owns it? Just a way of justyfying theft!