The court also ordered complete restraint on transportation of iron and manganese ore being mined illegally in the state.
The ban imposed on excavation operations in all the 90 mines in Goa will continue, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
The court also ordered complete restraint on transportation of iron and manganese ore being mined illegally in the state.
A bench of Justices Aftab Alam, K S Radhakrishan and Swatanter Kumar took cognisance of the findings of the Justice M B Shah Commission, which estimated a whopping `35,000 crore loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining in the last 12 years.
The bench issued notice to both the Centre and the State government.
The ‘green’ bench has also asked the Central Empowered Committee to submit its report within a month about illegal mining in Goa.
A public interest litigation filed by non-governmental organisation Goa Foundation has sought a thorough probe into illegal mining in the state, which attracts a large number of foreign and native tourists.
The Goa government had on September 10 temporarily suspended all mining operations till October, but the NGO’s counsel Prashant Bhushan contended that suspension did not affect the trade as private companies were transporting the ores already mined.
Activist lawyer Bhushan also said that Goa government wants to resume mining activities after Diwali. He wanted the court to stop mining completely.
The Supreme Court’s decision will hurt Sesa Goa the most and significantly impact its volumes, said an analyst with a local brokerage.
Downgrades are expected to follow over the coming week, said an analyst with another local brokerage.
Both refused to be named.
Meanwhile, the Shah Commission has indicted various government agencies that plundered natural resource and facilitated an “unrestricted, unchecked and unregulated export of iron ore to China”, which made the exporters of ore “richer and richer”.
It has squarely blamed former chief minister Digambar Kamat and other bureaucrats linked to the mining ministry as the main architects of the scam, along with major mining industry players.
Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar had said that FIRs would be filed against Digambar Kamat and Pratapsinh Rane, both former chief ministers, and a number of bureaucrats, and officials from the Indian Bureau of Mines and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, based on the Shah Commission report.
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