SC nod for mining in Goa

In a breather to mining companies, the Supreme Court on Friday vacated the stay on extraction of iron ore from forests in Goa.

In a breather to mining companies, the Supreme Court on Friday vacated the stay on extraction of iron ore from forests in Goa. Th court permitted 16 out of 18 companies to carry on with mining activities.

The directive was issued by the special bench for environment matters headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan after senior advocate Harish Salve, apprised the court of the report of apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

Referring to the CEC report, Salve said there were procedural lapses in the allotment of forest land and the companies could be allowed to carry out mining activities on payment of Net Present Value (NPV) of diverted forest land and compensatory afforestation price (CAP).

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Senior advocate K K Venugopal, who appeared for the mine owners, assured that both the conditions have been fulfilled.

All the firms, barring two — A V S Velinkar and C S Naik — have been allowed to go ahead with mining. The apex court on December 7 had restrained these companies from carrying out mining after it was pointed out that the Ministry of Environment and Forests had granted temporary work permits between September 1, 2007 and November 30, 2007 without approval of CEC and court’s permission.