SC rejects NGO plea against renewal of Goa mining leases

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday refused to direct the Goa government to maintain status quo with regard to the renewal of 88 mining leases, including that of Vedanta Ltd (erstwhile Sesa Sterlite), in the state.

A bench headed by justice J S Khehar, while refusing to grant interim relief to Goa Foundation, the NGO that took the state government to the SC over illegal mining in the state, posted the matter for hearing on November 17.

The NGO, through counsel Prashant Bhushan, has challenged the state government’s renewal of 88 mining leases and revoking the suspension of environmental clearances (ECs) given to 72 mining leases which were kept in abeyance.

The PIL also challenged the environment ministry’s decision to revoke the suspension of ECs of 72 mining leases with conditions, which were kept in abeyance in September 2012, following the M B Shah commission’s report on illegal mining. The NGO has also demanded a CBI probe into the lack of action by the state vigilance department into irregularities.

The renewal of 88 iron ore mining leases by the Goa government in 2015 is illegal and a violation of a Supreme Court order which cancelled all leases in 2014, Bhushan said.

Goa Foundation also said the state’s BJP-led coalition government’s decision to renew mining leases and not auctioning them will cause a loss of R80,000 crore to the state exchequer. It is also alleged that the SC’s suggestion to set up a state-operated mining corporation has also been brushed aside in the new policy, which claims that handing over the mining sector to the government would promote inefficiency.

Mining activity in Goa came to a halt in September 2012 after the Shah commission report on illegal mining was tabled in the Parliament. All top mining companies were indicted in the illegal mining scam and the report also pointed to a politician-bureaucrat-mining companies nexus. The ban was eventually lifted in 2014, but the SC had ordered the cancellation of all existing mining leases and issuance of fresh leases.

The state government’s policy also justifies the renewal of mining leases, citing an August 2014 Bombay High Court judgement that directed the state government to renew 27 leases following a plea by mining lease holders.

Justifying the haste for renewing the leases, the Goa government’s policy stated that nearly 150,000 people directly or indirectly dependent on the mining industry were affected and that India had suffered a loss of $8 billion due to the ban.