Team Herald
PANJIM: The much-delayed crucial hearing on resumption of iron ore mining activities in State will come up before the Supreme Court on Thursday, July 16.
The appeal filed by mining companies challenging 1987 Mining Abolition Act along with a review petition of the State government, challenging Supreme Court’s order dated February 7, 2018, will be jointly heard on Thursday.
The matter was initially scheduled for hearing on April 21. However, in the wake of the ongoing COVID pandemic, the Apex Court did not hear the case.
The mining activities in the State have come to halt since March 16, 2018.
Speaking to the media persons, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said that the Goa matter is listed for hearing in Supreme Court on Thursday.
He said that senior counsel Tushar Mehta will represent Goa in the Court. Advocate General Devidas Pangam will also be present. “I am hopeful of some positive outcome during the hearing. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will give justice to the State,” Sawant said.
The Chief Minister said that the State has made a strong case before the Apex Court and will continue to press for resumption of mining activities at the earliest.
“Let us wait and see,” he commented.
Vedanta had moved the Supreme Court challenging the 1987 law that abolished mining concessions granted by the Portuguese government. Union Mines Ministry had in March, filed interlocutory application (IA) for an early hearing in the batch of matters related to Goa, Daman and Diu (Abolition and Declaration of Mining Leases) Act 1987.
Goa Mining People’s Front had also filed IA in the matter. The State government had in November 2019 moved Apex Court seeking that the Court should revisit its order dated February 2018, wherein it had declared all 88 mining leases as null and void.
The government had contended before the Court that under the amendment to Section 8 of the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation (MMDR) Act, the mining companies are entitled to extend their mining leases upto 2037.
In a kind of relief, the Supreme Court had in January, this year, allowed transportation and export of ore extracted before March 15, 2018.
