SC shuts down 88 Goa mines

In a major shutdown of all iron ore mines in Goa for the second time in six years, the Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the second renewal of all 88 mines granted by the BJP government in Goa between November 2014 and January 2015 for 20 years with retrospective effect from 2007, in violation of its 2014 order declaring all leases after 2007 as illegal and invalid.

The Bench has, however, given time to the lease holders to continue with the operations till March 15 -- "until fresh mining leases (not fresh renewals) and fresh environmental clearances are granted."

The state government had renewed the leases after they were cleared by the Union Cabinet on Oc- tober 1, 2014, when Manohar Parrikar was the CM in his earlier avatar.

Thirteen leases were renewed during his tenure and the remaining 75 by his successor CM Laxmikant Parse-kar up to January 12, 2015, when the Centre promulgated the Mines and Minerals Ordinance.

This ordinance, which later became the MMDR Act, allowed mining leas- es only through competitive bidding or auction.

The apex court has held that all renewals of the mining leases was in violation of the Supreme Court directions on April 21, 2014, on a petition filed by the Goa Foundation.

The court noted that the Goa government renew-ed 25 leases within a week of the Union Cabinet’s approval of the

mining Ordinance on January 5; to make matters worse, it granted another 31 leases on January 12, 2015, the day the Ordinance came into force.

Following the renewal of 88 mining leases, the Goa government asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests in two letters on January 7 and February 5 to lift its abeyance order of September 14, 2012, on the environment clearance. The MOEF passed three orders as requested.

While making it clear that the Goa government was not under any constitutional obligation to grant fresh mining leases through the process of competitive bidding or auction, the court held that its renewal of the mining leases was "undue hasty" and not in the interests of mineral development. "The decision was taken only to augment the revenue of the State which is outside the purview of MMDR Act."

It has now directed the Goa government to take all necessary steps to grant fresh mining leases as per the MMDR Act; the MoEF, in turn, has been asked to grant fresh environment clearances to those who are successful in obtaining fresh mining leases.

"The exercise should be completed by the State of Goa and MoEF as early as reasonably practical," the court said, directing the state government to expedite recovery of dues from the mining lease holders.

The judgment began with the court's concern of "rapacious and rampant exploitation of our natural resources, with a total lack of concern for the environment and the health and well-being of the denizens in the vicinity of the mines.