Supreme Court to hear mining lease case on April 15: Pramod Sawant

PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday said that on April 15, the Supreme Court will hear an appeal filed by a mining company challenging a 1987 law that abolished mining concessions granted by the Portuguese-era government in Goa.

Speaking to TOI, Sawant said that the state government will consider all aspects before it files the state’s reply in the court in the 20-year-old case. “We will file a positive reply in the apex court with regards to the resumption of mining activities in the state,” Sawant said.

Sawant said he has studied the mining issue before taking a decision.

The mining ministry has filed a “positive affidavit” in the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing of these appeals that were filed in 1998.

Mining operations in Goa came to a halt on March 16, 2018, after the Supreme Court cancelled all 88 leases.

Sawant, who represents Sakhali constituency, a part of the mining belt, had told TOI in an exclusive interview that he would take up the resumption of mining operations on a priority basis. “It is on my mind. I have seen the suffering and I have suffered too,” he had said.

The mining companies had filed the appeals after the high court of Bombay at Goa had dismissed their petitions challenging the Goa, Daman and Diu (Abolition and Declaration of Mining Leases) Act, 1987.

During the Portuguese era, the appellants were granted mining concessions, which were converted into mining leases under the abolition act. In the appeal filed before it, the Supreme Court has to decide the constitutional validity of the provisions of the abolition act.

Goa Mining People’s Front (GMPF) had urged the state government to file supporting affidavits in the matter for the early resumption of mining activities in the state.

Former CM Parrikar had sent multiple letters to the ministry of mines emphasising on the social-economic crisis prevalent in Goa due to stoppage of mining and proposed a legislative cure for early resumption of mining through appropriate amendment to the abolition act.