PANAJI: The Cabinet Advisory Committee (
CAC) said on Tuesday that the state government would defend in the
Supreme Court its orders that allowed iron ore transportation on which royalty had been paid before March 15. The matter may come up for hearing on Wednesday.
Vedanta and other
mining companies have moved the Apex
court challenging last week’s order of the high court of Bombay at Goa that disallowed transportation of ore. The CAC held an urgent meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue and take a decision.
The order of the high court came in a contempt petition filed by the Goa Foundation, an NGO. CAC member and town and country planning minister Vijai Sardesai said that the Vedanta matter is likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday.
The state, through additional solicitor general ANS Nadkarni, would defend the state government’s orders. Sardesai said that since Nadkarni appeared for the state government in the mining case, he has been asked to appear in this one too. Nadkarni had said that if royalty was paid to the state government for ore extracted before March 15, mining companies would be free to transport or use it.
“Our stand is that mining transportation is legal and in case it is required, we will put this view before the court or seek time,” Sardesai said. The minister said that if the Supreme Court allows transportation of ore, then mining-affected people in Goa would get work for the next two months.
Sardesai said that the state government also wants time to take a decision whether to file the review petition in the Supreme Court over the quashing of the 88 mining leases renewals. Lawyer Harish Salve, who is advising the state government in the matter, is yet to give his opinion. The state government had sent a draft to Salve for his opinion, and that opinion will later be forwarded to the solicitor general of India.
