The Supreme Court has set out to examine the decision of the Goa Government to grant en masse renewals of 88 mining leases in the State in January this year, just days before an Ordinance was brought in to curb any further renewals.
Issuing notice on a PIl filed by NGO Goa Foundation, the bench of the Justices JS Khehar and R Banumathi sought response from the Goa Government and the mining companies by December 9, the next date of hearing.
Petitioner’s lawyer Prashant Bhushan pointed out that the 88 mining leases were renewed second time over after the decision of the Supreme Court on April 21, 2014 cancelling all illegal mining leases. Section 8(3) of the MMDR Act allowed State to renew licenses but a second renewal could be made only in the interest of mineral development of the State or if no other person except the lessee in question could have carried out extraction of ore.
Most renewals were granted between January 6 and 12 this year and 55 out of 88 leases were renewed en masse without citing any reason. The bench also directed Goa Government to produce all files relating to renewal in order to arrive at a conclusion whether procedure was correctly followed or any departure was made to benefit any private mining company. The Ordinance was enacted on January 12 eliminating Section 8(3) and bulk of licenses was held by Vedanta and Salgaoncars.