Mining hearing to prolong indefinitely?
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 18 September 2013 23:49 IST
The hearing on the case of Goa’s illegal mining may not be completed in two weeks as presumed earlier if the Supreme Court combines all the related petitions filed by several mining companies together.
The forest bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik may decide about the matter tomorrow, while beginning the third day of the continuous hearing.
The whole issue reportedly started with Justice Patnaik expressing surprise over the fact that the mining operations in Goa were stopped not due to Supreme Court order but the suspensions orders issued by the Goa and Central government, one after another.
Following tabling of the Shah Commission report in the Parliament, the Manohar Parrikar government on 10 September last year had temporarily suspended the mining operations.
Following this, on 14 September, union minister for environment and forest Jayanthi Natrajan had withdrawn all the environment clearances issued to mining lease holders.
Justice Patnaik reportedly asked why then the court was blamed for suspending mining operations and what was the urgency to hear the Goa Foundation’s petition.
Counsels of the mining companies present in the court, at this, informed the honourable judges that they had already challenged both the orders as well as Shah Commission report in the Bombay high court at Panaji.
When the apex court realised that the case is being heard without the high court hearing the petitions challenging these suspension orders by the state and central governments, the bench was informed that the mining companies had filed transfer petitions for transfer from the high court to Supreme Court.
A view thus emerged that the petitions challenging these orders and Shah Commission report as well as Goa Foundation’s petition on buffer zone be also combined together before the forest bench.
If the court goes ahead with this proposal, then the hearing may prolong much further since it will have to follow procedures like serving copies of all these petitions to the petitioner, who would be then given time to reply to all the petitions one by one.
The hearing thus may not be completed in two weeks but may delay much beyond two months.
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AAM AADMI PARTY REQUIRE IN GOA TO EXPOSE PRO-MINERS & PRO-MOPA.
- JOSE ROD, GOA | 19 th September 2013 19:10
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