Several British citizens who bought property in Goa have petitioned Prime Minister Gordon Brown to request the Indian government to resolve the impasse in which properties purchased by foreign nationals were not being registered.
Over 125 people have signed the petition on the 10, Downing Street website. The petition, led by Andrew F Davies, has been initiated amidst reports of British citizens facing several problems in purchasing and registering property in Goa.
The petition said, "We petition the Prime Minister to approach the government of India and request them to take cognizance of and correct the unlawful actions of the State Government of Goa whereby the Sub-Registrars of Goa have been instructed not to Order the Registration of Deeds relating to the sale of immovable property where one of the parties to the transaction is a foreign national."
"This is in direct contravention of the 1908 Registration Act. We would also ask that the Indian government be asked to ensure that the Department of Revenue, Directorate of Enforcement ('D of E') acts judiciously when investigating alleged infringements of FEMA and is not being used to harass foreign nationals who have bought property in Goa," the petition added.
The petitioners noted that until August 2006, the Sub-Registrars were accepting foreigners' deeds, and added that nearly 400 British citizens who had bought property before August 2006 and are now being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement with the threat of confiscation.
The petition added, "Around 50,000 persons of Goan birth or descent now live in the UK. The Petitioners hope that they are happy here and are treated fairly and justly, and ask only that the government of Goa should extend the same courtesies to the few hundreds of foreign nationals who are full or part time residents of Goa.
"The rule of law is central to the operation of democracy, and a central pillar of law is the protection of persons and property. In India any transfer of Property, by any means and for any purpose, is required to be registered. Thus to deny registration is to undermine the very basis of the rule of law and of democracy."
