PANJIM: The Supreme Court on Friday will hear the crucial petition challenging the renewal of 89 iron ore mining leases by the State government. The petition was filed by Goa Foundation as well as social activist and Shiv Sena chief Sudip Tamhankar in November, last year.
The Apex Court on November 17 had issued notices to the State and mining lease holders, seeking explanation over second renewal of these leases, done under section 8(3) of the Mines and Minerals Development Regulation (MMDR) Act 1957. The matter was thereafter kept reserved.
Goa Foundation and Tamhankar had filed two Writ Petitions (WP) before the Apex Court challenging the State government’s renewal of 88 mining leases and revoking the suspension of environmental clearances (ECs) given to 72 mining leases which were kept in abeyance.
According to the petitions, the Supreme Court had in April 2014 ordered that all mining licences given for 50 years and had expired in 2007 shall not be renewed automatically. However, Goa government bypassed this order and allowed miners to operate without auction or competitive bid.
Goa Foundation, through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, had told the court that Goa’s policy to renew leases did not conform to the law established by the Apex Court for optimally utilising natural resources. Bhushan contended that the State should have auctioned these mining leases instead of renewing them.
The senior counsel argued that the MMDR ordinance approved on January 12 did not conceive of a renewal process. Bhushan pointed out that second renewals were done before the ordinance came into force, with 31 being renewed on January 12 the day the ordinance was approved.
