DNA Edit: Digging for gold

It is uncanny how the recent judgment of the Supreme Court (SC) quashing the renewal of 88 mining leases in Goa mirrors the SC judgment cancelling 122 spectrum licences in 2012. A grave, and a rather deliberate violation, of the principle enshrined in the 2012 judgment can be observed in the haste shown by the Goa government in greenlighting the leases. In 2012, the SC had repeatedly laid stress on the fact that all natural resources are vested in the government and that they ought to be divested, in majority of the cases, by an auction.

Despite the pronounced principles, the Goa government went ahead with the renewals, in violation of the SC precedent, and even before the policy governing the grant of leases was gazetted. Now, the Goa government finds itself red-faced given that it has received more than an earful in the judgment. The apex court has said that the government “pressed the accelerator” on the renewal as it wanted to circumvent the “rather uncomfortable mining policy” to benefit the leaseholders. It might seem a bit like jumping the gun, but kickbacks seem to be writ large on this sordid affair. In any case, a SIT has been set up to probe the role of the former CM Digambar Kamat in the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam in Goa.

However, the renewal of mining leases was given under the BJP regime between November 2014 and January 2015 and the SC had made its displeasure known saying that the government’s “sudden spurt of renewal of mining leases is beyond comprehension”. The state government, on the other hand, has rationalised its hurry citing that its coffers were virtually starved of funds on account of stoppage of mining operations. In any case, it is the people of Goa who will have the last laugh as the “rapacious and rampant” mining now stands terminated.