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The latest Supreme Court order cancelling 88 iron-ore mining leases in Goa, with effect from March 16, has found the BJP governments both at the Centre and the State in a difficult spot.
According to reports from Goa, quoting Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, the Prime Minister’s Office has sought a detailed report from the State government on the possible economic impact of the Supreme Court order.
The PMO’s intervention coincided with the mining lobby’s frantic appeals to the State to save the industry from closure. On Tuesday, the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association (GMOEA) wrote to Parrikar citing huge loss of revenue and livelihood if the order is implemented.
In its February 8 order, the court held the State for not following the due process in renewing 88 mining leases for 20 years with retrospective effect from 2007.
The leases were renewed (by the BJP government in Goa) barely a week before the Narendra Modi government at the Centre brought out the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Ordinance on January 12. The ordinance was later passed by Parliament.
The court wants the State government to grant fresh mining licences as per the Act.
‘A naive action’
According to industry experts, given the precedence of the coal block de-allocation order, there is not much scope for the State to avoid implementation of the latest order.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, at least two mining officials held the State squarely responsible for the fiasco.
According to them, the court has been taking measures against irregularities in the iron-ore mining sector across the country for many years now, and it was naive of the Goa government to assume it could bypass the auction route for lease renewal (as recommended in the MMDR Act).
One official pointed out that the 2015 Act has a clause for automatic renewal of lease for five years (till 2020) to the running merchant mines.
“There was no need for the State government to rush when the MMDR Act was in the coming. By trying to outsmart the law, they pushed the entire industry into trouble,” said a senior official of a mining company.
Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice-President of ICRA, pointed out that all the iron-ore mines in the country should follow the same terms and conditions as mentioned under the MMDR Act.
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