TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s three-judge Forest Bench will be hearing the case of the ban imposed on all iron ore mining activities in Goa by it since October 5 on a public interest litigation (PIL) by Goa Foundation environmentalist Claude Alvares.
The court also directed the Goa government’s senior advocate Ranjit Kumar to furnish further information sought by the CEC vide its letter dated January 17. The senior advocate assured to comply with the order.
In the hearing on the writ petition last Thursday, the bench of Justices Aftab Alam, K S Radhakrishnan and Ranjan Gogoi appointed senior advocate Harish Salve to assist the court as “Amicus curiae” in the matter, with advocate A D N Rao as his assistant.
In its affidavit, the Goa government had questioned both Goa Foundation and the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and that may be a reason for the appointment of the “amicus curiae.”
The State government had moved the court to lift the ban, pointing out its fears of the social unrest because of the impact on 3.5 lakh people, besides adverse impact on the state’s economy and the government’s revenue. Its plea is that a commission appointed by it with a retired High Court judge is already inquiring into all wrong doings in the mining sector as the government is committed to allow only legal mining.
