PANJIM: The High Court of Bombay at Goa will on Tuesday hear final arguments in the iron ore transportation petition filed by Goa Foundation.
The arguments will be heard by a Division Bench comprising Justice N M Jamdar and Justice Prithviraj Chauhan.
The petitioner and the respondents – State government and mining companies – have been granted one hour each to submit their final arguments on the matter. The State last week filed its affidavit in the court, while the petitioners submitted their rejoinder.
The Supreme Court via an order on February 7 had quashed and set aside second renewals granted to 88 mining leases and also directed the State to stop all mining activities by March 15. While the State complied with the order, it allowed transportation of ore extracted till March 15, and dumped outside erstwhile lease areas, even after mining activities had come to a standstill.
The petitioner objected to this, saying that post March 15, the ore becomes the property of the State. In an interim order, the Court stopped all the transportation activities.
However, the mining companies approached the Apex Court for relief, and the court allowed transportation of ore stacked at jetties, barges and ports on or before March 15.
The State in its affidavit before the High Court stated that the ‘mining operations’ and ‘transportation’ are two distinct and different concepts of iron ore activities. The government slammed the petitioner for “misguiding the court by substituting the extant actual direction of the Apex Court”.
The government, in its affidavit, also said they are not eager to facilitate the leaseholders to continue with leasehold rights unless otherwise provided under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.
The government has also contended the petitioner’s claim of “vast” quantity of iron ore extraction between February 7 till March 15, stating that it was only 2.25 million tonnes, compared to the previous year’s 5.33 million tonnes during the same period.
