The Goa government has appointed advocate Savio Joaquim Filipe Correia as president of the Goa Administrative Tribunal, restoring leadership to the appellate forum nearly four months after the post fell vacant and less than a fortnight after the Bombay High Court directed the state to make the appointment.
The appointment was notified through an order issued by the Law Department’s establishment division on Tuesday under Section 3(2) of the Goa Administrative Tribunal Act, 1965. Correia’s appointment fills a vacancy that began on May 30, when the tribunal’s previous president, a district judge on deputation, demitted office.
The tribunal handles disputes and appeals under the Agricultural Tenancy Act and Mundkar Act, as well as matters involving cooperative societies and cases from the municipal appellate tribunal. Its work therefore covers land and tenancy rights, housing-related occupancy disputes, cooperative administration and municipal decisions.
The appointment followed strong observations by the Bombay High Court during the hearing of a petition filed by the South Goa Advocates Association. The association had sought an additional tribunal bench for South Goa, citing difficulties faced by litigants and lawyers in accessing the forum.
During the hearing, the court observed that “a forum has to be there” and that the post could not be kept vacant. It also noted that the vacancy was creating practical difficulties, with cases requiring urgent relief being routinely referred to district judges.
Advocate General Devidas Pangam informed the court that 956 cases were pending before the tribunal. The figure includes matters awaiting consideration by the forum while the state was also weighing the question of whether an additional bench or a second president would be viable.
The issue of expanding the tribunal’s structure arose during the hearing on the South Goa Advocates Association’s petition. Pangam argued that having two presidents may not be viable. The court said it was not interfering in that decision but made clear that the state had to ensure that the tribunal functioned.
The appointment addresses the immediate leadership gap but does not by itself resolve the broader question of the tribunal’s capacity to deal with its pending caseload or provide easier access to litigants from South Goa. The court’s observations linked the vacancy to the practical administration of urgent relief, while the pending-case figure points to the scale of work before the forum.
With Correia now appointed, the tribunal can resume proceedings under a designated president. The state’s position on an additional bench for South Goa, and how the 956 pending cases will be handled, remain part of the institutional questions raised during the court proceedings.