TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The illegal iron ore mining case in the Supreme Court is likely to be heard on April 21, wherein the Apex Court is expected to pass an interim order capping the volume of iron ore to be extracted in Goa annually, which has been banned in the State for last 19 months.
The Court in its early hearing on March 27 had reserved the order on putting the annual cap on the extraction of iron ore, the recommendation by the Apex court appointed expert panel that mining up to 20 to 27.5 million tonnes be allowed in Goa, annually. The Bench comprising of Justice A K Patnaik, S S Nijjar and FMI Kalifulla had however stated that whatever they decide in the judgement will be subject to the final report of the panel.
The six member expert panel has suggested that it was not ‘desirable’ to start fresh extraction of iron ore. The panel in its interim report said that there is large scale degradation of eco-system in the state by mining and the restoration needs timely monitoring. It recommended to the Goa government to form a mining corporation or a public sector company in view of illegalities by private sector miners.
The Supreme Court had on October 5, 2012 stopped mining, transportation and export of iron ore in Goa following a report of irregularities by the Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry.
