TEAM HERALD
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said that iron ore mined in Goa before 2007 belongs to the State, but only relates to inventory. The court essentially reaffirmed its old order.
A Goa-based miner named Bandekar Brothers had moved the SC, seeking directions to export and sell pre-2007 iron ore, however, SC has dismissed that plea.
It re-affirmed its ruling in the Goa mining judgement on April 21, that all iron ore mined in the State before 2007 belongs to the State government and it has legitimate right to sell it off through e-auction.
“It is difficult for us to accept the prayers made by the applicant, either for the release of the extracted mineral ore to the applicant, or the liberty to sell the same at its own,” ruled Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar on behalf of the Bench which included Justices J Chelameswar and A K Sikri.
Bandekar Brothers Private Limited had rushed to the Apex Court against the e-auction of the iron ore it had mined prior to November 22, 2007, asserting that its ore cannot be sold under the orders passed by the Court on a petition by the Goa Foundation since it was not illegitimately mined “and as such, the applicant as also all other similarly placed mining lease holders, should be released the same with liberty to sell it.”
In its order, the Apex Court referred to its earlier observation: “As we have held that renewal of all the deemed mining leases in the State of Goa had expired on 22.11.2007, the mining lessees will not be entitled to the sale value of the ores sold in auction, but they will be entitled to approximate cost (not actual cost) of the extraction of the ores.”
The Court also accepted amicus curie (friend of court) stand that the lessee has to remove the excavated ore within six months from the expiry of the mining lease or else it becomes property of the State government. It held that the counsel of the applicant could not refer to any statutory provision of the Mineral Rules to counter the amicus’ submission.
The order said the court had clearly and categorically directed preparation of the inventory of the existing extracted mineral ore available as on 11.11.2013 and accordingly the monitoring committee prepared the inventory, including the ore whether lying at the mine head, stockyards, jetties or ports in Goa.
It also referred to the Mineral Rules under which the state government has the right to forfeit the excavated minerals, after issuance of a notice, if not removed by the lessee within six months.
“On the issue of forfeiture, this Court clearly directed in Goa Foundation’s case that all the extracted mineral ore contained in the inventory prepared by the Monitoring Committee would vest in the state government,” the order said, adding that its directions negated the requirement of any formal notice to the mining lease holders.
