FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
In addition to the Shah Commission report which effectively pegged mining losses to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore, there is a Supreme Court direction to the Goa government to recover 100 per cent of all earnings due to mining exports out of illegal mining activity.
In 2015, the State government had appointed 15 chartered accountants to carry out a comprehensive audit of 118 mining leases and further analyse the exact loss due to illegal mining. Based on this the Department of Mines raised demand notices worth Rs 1580 crore. In addition to that the CAG in its audit report in 2017 produced a report on the extent of illegal mining and based on that demand notices of Rs 1922 cr were raised.
The Goa govt tells the Supreme Court it is serious about recovering mining loot but acts opposite of this
The Goa government used these demand notices to make a case in the Supreme Court that they were serious. But they went and issued orders for the recovery of only Rs 300 crore.
That forced Goa Foundation to file a Public Interest Litigation to ask the court to direct the government to recover the full Rs 3431 cr and not the small sum of Rs 300 crore.
It was the Manohar Parrikar government which appointed 15 CAs to calculate the losses due to illegal mining. They did their work. But then their calculations were rejected and only a small percentage is finally ordered to be recovered after misleading the court.
