TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: A petition has been field before the Supreme Court praying that a committee be constituted under a retired Supreme Court judge and directions be issued to begin recovery proceeding against the culprits in the Goa illegal mining scam since the Apex Court’s recent judgement declared all mining activity in the State after 2007 as illegal.
The petition filed by activist, bus owner and former Congressman Sudeep Tamhankar also asks that criminal proceedings be initiated against the guilty in the Goa illegal mining case according to the MMDR Act.
The petitioner has also asked that since in the special investigating team which is investigating the illegal mining scam could have some officers that were close to politicians and so could come under pressure, the court should ask – like in did in Karnataka – that the CBI take over the investigations into all criminal activities like illegal mining and transportation including the 35 complaints of the petitioner that were presently with the SIT.
The petitioner told media that the Supreme Court order had declared all mining after 2007 as illegal but was silent on recovery, so they had decided to approach the court especially given that the Public Accounts Committee report and the Shah Commission report had both said that there was large scale mining illegalities with Justice Shah Commission quantifying the loss to the exchequer as approximately around Rs 35,000 crore.
