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The Goa government has approved an extension of the deadline for applications to regularise eligible homes built on comunidade land, increasing the application window from six months to 18 months. The move is intended to help eligible landless occupants who could not complete the process within the original period because of documentation and administrative constraints. The one-time framework covers dwelling houses constructed before February 28, 2014. It also provides for compensation to comunidades and the return of excess encroached land, balancing residents' housing needs with comunidade land rights.
The Goa government has decided to give residents more time to seek regularisation of eligible homes built on comunidade land, extending the application period from six months to 18 months.
The state cabinet approved an amendment to Goa Legislative Diploma No. 2070 to make the change. The proposed amendment is to be taken up in the Goa Legislative Assembly during its monsoon session. The decision comes after the government found that a section of eligible applicants had been unable to complete the required formalities within the original period.
The regularisation framework is aimed at resolving long-standing cases involving dwelling houses constructed on comunidade land by landless persons. Only properties meeting the conditions prescribed under the law can qualify, with February 28, 2014 serving as the cut-off date for construction.
The additional time is particularly relevant for applicants who faced difficulties obtaining documents needed for their applications. The government said revenue officials involved in electoral-roll revision work had limited the availability of personnel for some of these processes. Applicants were consequently facing challenges in securing documents such as residence certificates and consent-related paperwork.
The extension is part of the state's broader Mhaje Ghar initiative, which seeks to provide a legal route for eligible households occupying certain government and comunidade lands. The government has already made application forms available for regularisation of encroached comunidade land and related permissions through district-level administrative channels.
The policy does not amount to automatic ownership of every house situated on comunidade property. Applicants still have to satisfy the prescribed eligibility requirements and undergo the relevant verification process before their cases can be approved.
The framework also seeks to protect the interests of comunidades, which are traditional village institutions with rights over the land concerned. Where regularisation is approved, the comunidade is to receive compensation for the portion covered by the settlement. Land occupied beyond the area eligible for regularisation is intended to revert to the comunidade.
This approach is designed to address two competing concerns: providing greater residential security to long-term occupants while preventing the regularisation process from becoming a blanket mechanism for land encroachment.
The state's decision also builds on measures introduced earlier under the Mhaje Ghar framework. In 2025, Goa's Department of Information and Publicity said the revised provisions enabled regularisation of unauthorised houses constructed before February 28, 2014, including those located on comunidade land. Officials were directed to process applications within the prescribed period and follow verification procedures.
The extension could therefore bring relief to applicants who had started the process but were unable to complete it within the initial six-month window. It also gives authorities additional time to process documentation and verify claims without excluding eligible occupants solely because of procedural delays.
For homeowners, the extended period provides an opportunity to organise the necessary records and submit applications rather than allowing the original deadline to become a barrier to regularisation.
The move nevertheless keeps the eligibility conditions intact. Newer unauthorised construction will not automatically qualify simply because the application window has been extended.
With the amendment now moving towards legislative consideration, the government's immediate focus will be on implementing the longer application period and ensuring that eligible cases are processed while comunidade ownership rights remain protected.
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