New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled 88 mining leases in Goa that were renewed by the state government in 2015 just before the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act mandated the auction of mining leases.
Cancelling the leases that were renewed for 20 years from 2007, a bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said that the Goa government will examine the applications for mining leases afresh in accordance with the law.
Observing that the renewal of a mining lease was hasty and illegal, the court said that all mining activity, involving the iron and manganese mines, in Goa would come to halt by March 15. The top court judgement cancelling the mining leases has come on a petition by NGO Goa Foundation which had challenged the renewal of mining leases by the State government.
The Opposition in Goa has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, holding him squarely responsible for the events leading up to Wednesday’s cancellation of 88 renewed mining leases, which virtually brings all iron ore extraction in the coastal state to a halt for now.
The AAP also claimed that the mining renewal scam was bigger in quantum than the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam unearthed by a judicial commission in 2012.
“If the court has come down heavily on those in mining trade, the real culprits are those who failed to interpret the law to protect the mining industry, and here it is the present Mines Minister who is solely responsible,” State Congress President Shantaram Naik told reporters here.
“Parrikar is fully responsible for his negligence to deal with various mining issues and concentrating only on teaching lessons to Congress leaders. Parrikar should resign from his post for arrogant and revengeful approach,” Naik said.
Parrikar, also the State Mines Minister, said that there was no need to panic in light of the Supreme Court order, adding that the government would formulate a response on the issue over the next two-three days.
“In that judgement, I understand, that court has also said that auction may not necessarily be the means. I think it has been said somewhere (in the order). So that means different possibilities have opened, but let me first read properly,” Parrikar added.
Goa is the country’s leading exporter of low grade iron ore and exported nearly 50 million tonnes before the Shah Commission in 2012 exposed a Rs 35,000-crore scam, implicating nearly all major mining industrial houses with then Congress Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and key bureaucrats.
Iron ore extraction in Goa was subsequently halted by a series of bans by the state and central governments and eventually by a final ban by the Supreme Court in 2012.
However, a BJP government in 2014-15 renewed the mining leases in favour of the same mining companies accused by the Shah Commission of irregularities. — IANS
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