Team Herald
PANJIM: Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing in the case on renewal of iron ore mining leases, the Union Mines Ministry has sought a clarification from the Goa government over the renewal of 89 leases under Section 8 (3) of the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation (MMDR ) Act 1957.
In a letter to State Mines Department, the Ministry has raised questions over the hurried procedure followed by the department in granting second renewal to the leases and sought details of the procedure followed by the department while granting the renewals.
In what can expose glaring irregularities, the Ministry has sought to know whether valid Environmental Clearances (EC), Forest Clearance and Wildlife Clearance were in place while granting the second renewals to these leases.
While the 89 mining leases were renewed between November 2014 and January 2015, the EC was granted to the 72 mining leases only in March 2015. During the renewal period, the ECs had remained under abeyance by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forest (MoEF).
The Mines Ministry has sought details like name of the lease, leasee, TC No and total area covered and the date of execution of lease renewals of each mining lease.
The letter comes following a petition filed before the Supreme Court challenging renewals of these leases. The petitioners – Goa Foundation and activist Sudip Tamankar – have sought an interim stay on operation of these leases.
The State Accountant General had earlier castigated the State over renewal of these leases and had exposed the government’s hurried renewal of 25 iron ore mining leases on January 12, the day when the Mines and MMDR Amendment Act 2015 came into force. The amendment had ruled out renewals or second renewals of leases, and recommended the auction route.
“Reasons for granting renewals of mining leases under Section 8(3) of MMDR Act 1957, which was not available on the date of granting renewals, that is on January 12, 2015, may please be clarified,” it had said.
