‘Rehear case’: Court quashes arrest warrant against builder

Panaji: A North Goa court has quashed and set aside an order for the warrant of arrest of builder Venkatesh Prabhu Moni, passed by the North Goa collector in Dec 2024, and directed Moni to be released.
The court directed the collector to rehear and re-decide on the report submitted by the mamlatdar after giving Moni an opportunity to be heard. The court held that the collector’s order was wrong, and that Moni’s further detention would be illegal.
The collector ought to have passed a reasoned order before issuing the warrant of arrest, principal district judge, Merces, Irshad Agha, said, adding that there was no wilful default on Moni’s part.
Moni defaulted in completing the construction of a project, and the issue of recovery was referred to the office of the collector.
The proceedings for the execution of recovery of the amount were referred by the Goa Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) to the collector, who in turn delegated powers to the mamlatdar to recover the amount as arrears of land revenue.
The Goa Rera directed the collector to expedite the process of recovery of interest, penalty, and compensation as arrears of land revenue, following which the additional collector North II directed the mamlatdar of Tiswadi to recover the interest and penalty.
Moni submitted to the court that the collector blindly accepted the mamlatdar’s report without appreciating whether it was correct or wrong and proceeded to pass the order of issuing an arrest warrant against him.