28 Apr 2022  |   07:51am IST

Lo & behold: Govt admits that ore transported from Pissurlem was illegal

Court “keen to find out” how 3 lakh tonnes of minerals landed on the mining lease without any mining carried out by it; Since SIT was investigating the gross illegalities on this lease, Goa Foundation stated that materials needed to be seized, and the leaseholders arrested

Team Herald

PANJIM:  The Advocate General Devdas Pangam informed the High Court of Bombay at Goa that 3 lakh tonnes of minerals found on the lease of Damodar Mangalji Co (DMC) 95/52 is illegal. There was no open cast pit on the lease to show any extraction

The senior-most legal officer of the government, on Wednesday informed the High Court bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice R N Laddha that the 3 lakh metric tonnes of ore found on the DMC lease at Pissurlem were illegal. He also informed the Court that there was no mining pit on the lease from which this material had been extracted.

The Court observed it was keen to find out how 3 lakh tonnes of minerals had appeared on the DMC lease without any mining carried out by it. It, therefore, directed the Directorate of Mines & Geology to file an affidavit on the subject and adjourned the matter till 8 June 2022.

A bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice R N Laddha was hearing a PIL filed by the Goa Foundation challenging the auction and transport of the 3 lakh tonnes of mineral on the grounds that the mining lease had never been operated and that the ore had been illegally imported from other nearby leases to defeat environment and mining laws.

Adv Norma Alvares appearing for the Goa Foundation told the Court that the lease, according to the government's affidavit, was under SIT investigation. She argued that till such time as the investigation was completed, none of the materials on the lease could be touched, as this would be removal of evidence. “In that case, the materials needed to be seized and the lease holders arrested. The e-auction should not have been held with the consent of the SIT, since the materials amounted to evidence of criminal wrongdoing,” she said. 

At its earlier hearing of the matter, the Court had already stayed any further transport of minerals from the dump. Request of Sesa Resources Goa today to be allowed to ship 1.8 lakh tonnes already transported by them from Pissurlem to Amona jetty, was also rejected by the Court

The firm had filed an affidavit before the High Court informing the bench that it had purchased 2.95 lakh tonnes of mineral ore from the Pissurlem mine of Damodar Mangalji Co, at an e-auction held on January 19, 2022, of which it had already transported 1.8 lakh tonnes.