The Bombay High Court at Goa dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the State government's policy for handling iron ore mining dumps outside lease areas [Goa Foundation v. State of Goa & Ors.].
In a judgment delivered on May 7, a division bench of Justices Suman Shyam and Amit S Jamsandekar ruled that the government's approach was legally sound and in consonance with the Supreme Court's directives.
Hence, it rejected NGO Goa Foundation's challenge to Clause 2(2) of the Policy for Regulating Iron Ore Dump Handling 2023.
The clause allows former mining leaseholders to remove inventoried dumps from private properties outside lease areas without conducting public auctions.
The NGO, which pursues environmental causes, moved the Court arguing that the policy violated constitutional mandates by permitting valuable mineral resources to be handed over to ex-lessees without competitive bidding.
The NGO contended this could result in losses exceeding ₹10,000 crores to the public exchequer.
However, the court found that the policy was formulated in accordance with an expert committee report and explicit Supreme Court approval.
"We are of the considered opinion that it would not be permissible for this Court to add words to the order of December 13, 2022, passed by the Supreme Court," the Court said.
It emphasised that the Supreme Court, by way of its December 2022 order, specifically permitted Goa to carry out the dump mining activities in accordance with the expert committee's report.
The expert committee had recommended that dumps in the non-lease area be kept under the domain of the State government and it may evolve an appropriate policy.
The High Court observed that the dumps were created and treated as waste material under approved mining plans and only gained value after threshold limits for iron ore were revised in 2009.
“The plea of disposing of the dumps, through a fresh process of auction, in our considered opinion, does not hold to reason. Rather, we are of the view that the mechanism prescribed under Clause 2(2) of the Policy of 2023 is not only fair and transparent but the same also adequately addresses the economic concerns of the State,” the Court held.
Hence, it dismissed the petition.
Senior advocate Norma Alvares with advocates Om D'Costa and Malisa Simoes appeared for Goa Foundation.
Advocate Devidas Pangam and additional government pleader Deep Shirodkar appeared for State of Goa.
Advocates Somnath Karpe, Anand Shirodkar and Samiksha Vaigankar appeared for Ministry of Mines.
Senior Advocate SD Lotlikar with advocates Sailee Kenny, Terence Sequeira, Sarvesh Sawant, Neha Shirgaonkar and P Volvoikar appeared for a mining company.
Senior advocate SS Kantak with advocates Neha Kholkar and Saicha Desai appeared for the Mineral ore Exporters’ Association.
Advocate Joaquim Godinho appeared for Goa State Pollution Control Board
[Read Judgment]