Goa: SC lifts mining ban, caps extraction at 20 mn tonnes a year

The Supreme Court on Monday lifted the 18-month ban on mining in Goa but capped the annual extraction of iron ore at 20 million tonnes per year. The court has however, deemed all leases granted post 2007 as illegal.  In its order today, the apex court bench said there will be no lease granted for mining up to a distance of one km from national parks and wild life sanctuaries. A bench comprising justices AK Patnaik, SS Nijjar and FMI Kalifulla, however, said the expert panel will give a final recommendation on annual cap on excavation of iron ore within six months. It said there cannot be a deemed renewal of lease after 2007 of the existing lease deeds emanating from 1962 onwards. The bench said there will be no grant of lease for mining around one km of national parks and wild life sanctuaries. The court directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to identify eco-sensitive areas around national parks within six months. It said the Goa government will formulate a scheme within six months for utilising the funds generated by e-auction. The bench also said that the workers on rolls of all mining firms will be paid 50 percent of the wage during the period for which they were out of work because of the apex court stay on the mining activity. Further, within six months, the expert panel will recommend how the extracted dumps are to be utilised, it said. The bench had said it cannot go into the policy matter and will only address the regulatory aspect involved in it. The expert panel had recommended to Goa government to form a mining corporation or a public sector company in view of “illegalities” by private miners. The SC also directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to identify eco-sensitive areas around national parks within a period of six months. The bench, while reserving its order on 27 March, had said it cannot go into examining the policy and will only address the regulatory aspect involved in it. The SC-appointed expert panel has recommended that the Goa government form a mining corporation or a public sector company in view of illegalities by private miners. “We have to balance between sustaining environment and and economic growth,” the bench had observed. The expert panel had recommended that for the time being, iron ore mining of up to 20 million tonnes annually be allowed in Goa. The report suggested it was not “desirable” to start fresh extraction of iron ore. The panel said there is a “large-scale degradation” of eco-system in Goa by mining and the restoration needs timely monitoring and recommended creating a “permanent fund” for the purpose. On e-auction of iron ore till now, the committee in its report had said that about 1.62 million tonnes of iron ore had been auctioned in two rounds and approximately Rs 260 crore realised from it. The apex court had on 11 November, 2013 allowed e-auctioning of nearly 11.48 million tonnes of extracted iron ore lying unused in Goa for over a year after it halted mining operations in 90 mines there. The apex court had on 5 October 2012 stopped mining, transportation and export of iron ore in Goa following a report of irregularities by the Justice MB Shah Commission. The six-member panel has one representative each from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Department of Mining besides “an ecologist, a geologist, a mineralogist and an expert on forest.”