SC cancels all mining leases in Goa; CM says no need to panic

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt a severe blow to Goa’s mining magnets by cancelling leases of all 88 mines and ordered that fresh licences be granted through an auction process. The court’s order will cover every one of 88 mines operational in Goa.

Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar advised against panic, even as the Opposition called for his resignation and alleged a scam in the renewing of leases.

Soon after the order by the apex court, Parrikar told reporters, that the State Government would need two-three days to study the import of the order and formulate a response. He, however, said, that since the leases stood cancelled on March 16, there should be no call for panic, as the Government had time to sort out the issue.

“I am not telling you anything. I only mentioned to you number one, it does not come into effect from tomorrow. There is no panic. We can decide in two, three days. I have to also seek legal advice on the issue. As a Chief Minister I cannot comment casually. The order is not applicable (from) tomorrow,” Parrikar told reporters.

In 2015, the Goa Government had renewed the licenses in favour of the same mining companies which were implicated in the Rs 35,000-crore illegal mining scam. The Government had renewed the licenses through an Ordinance, days before a new Mining Act was to come into force.

The apex court also directed the setting up of an SIT and a team of chartered accountants to recover the amount from mining companies, which were allowed to extract ore in violation of the law.

The SC said that the Goa Government in 2015 violated procedures in renewing the licenses which had expired after 50 years of lease. The court cited its previous judgment and said that the State Government was obliged to grant fresh mining leases in accordance with law, as such second renewals to mining lease holders was illegal.

A Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said mining lease holders, who have been granted a second renewal in violation of its previous decision and directions, are granted time to manage their affairs and may continue mining operations till March 15 this year.

“However, they are directed to stop all mining operations with effect from March 16, 2018 until fresh mining leases (not fresh renewals or other renewals) are granted and fresh environmental clearances are granted.

“The second renewal of the mining leases granted by the State of Goa was unduly hasty, without taking all relevant material into consideration and ignoring available relevant material and therefore not in the interests of mineral development,” it added.

The decision, the Bench said, was taken only to augment the revenues of the State, which is outside the purview of Section 8(3) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Goa Foundation in 2015. Appearing for the petitioner, lawyer Prashant Bhushan had said the State’s policy did not conform to the apex court’s line on optimum utilisation of natural resources.