PANAJI: The Goa Lokayukta on Wednesday issued notices to former chief minister
Laxmikant Parsekar, ex-mines secretary Pawan Kumar Sain, and director of mines and geology,
Prasanna Acharya, in the case concerning the alleged illegal renewal of 88 mining leases.
They have been asked to file their replies by May 7.
The notices follow a complaint by Goa Foundation, a voluntary organization, last week, after the anti-corruption branch (ACB) of the vigilance department and the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) declined to investigate the process of lease renewals.
On Monday, Lokayukta Justice
P K Misra ordered his office to issue notices to Parsekar, Sain, and Acharya in connection with the 88 renewals. In February, the Supreme Court had cancelled them and also stopped mining in the leases from March 15.
The first preliminary hearing in the case was held on Monday in the presence of Goa Foundation director,
Claude Alvares. His organization has sought investigation of the circumstances that led to the en masse second renewal of 88 mining leases in Goa to various private stakeholders (leaseholders) for the period spanning November 1, 2014 to January 12, 2015, allegedly through “flagrant abuse of power and conspiracy” by the persons listed as respondents.
“The illegal, second set of renewals were done in order to benefit these private persons and companies,” the complaint read. “As a result, they benefited by operating the mining leases, allocated for nearly three years from the period 2015-2018, till the intervention of the Supreme Court, which set aside all these illegal renewals.”
Former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar
