He also pleaded with the apex court to leave the matter of implementation to the state authorities and allow them to act on themselves, stating that the new government has just come to power.

The forest bench, headed by Justice A K Patnaik, however was a firm view that mining will not be allowed to start without an independent and strong regulator since nothing substantial was in place.

The bench also consists of Justices S S Nijjar and F M Ibrahim Kalifulla.

While rejecting the proposal of letting the Lokayukta to function as a regulator, the court said the independent regulator must be a tough guy, not amenable to influence, empowered to shut down mines for any infraction.

Instead, Adv Datar suggested that the state government be allowed to act with its own mechanism.

 “Moreover, for any lapses, we have got National Green Tribunal, the High Court and the Supreme Court and this is the essence of separation of powers,” he said.

The lawyer also said status reports can be filed before the Supreme Court.

To the submission that there were laws and rules to regulate mining, the bench said “ultimately, the decision has to be taken by the people who are in government. If the people in the government are not serious, then the rules cannot be implemented.”

The bench asked Goa government whether it has taken any action against any individual mining company on the basis of the report of Justice Shah panel.

“We have stopped mining in the state,” he said adding for taking action against an individual firm, “legal process” has to be followed and “no action can be taken on the basis of the report of the panel alone”.

Earlier, the court had questioned the Centre on grant of ECCs to mining firms involved in extraction of iron ore in Goa.

The bench had also asked the state government to respond as to why there was no regulatory mechanism in place to check illegal iron ore extraction there.

The bench is hearing the PIL filed by the Goa Foundation, an environmental action group, on the illegal mining in Goa.

Earlier, the apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had said that nearly 70 iron ore mines in Goa fall within the prohibited 10 km radius of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and environment clearance certificates of miners must be reviewed.

The CEC had on 7 December last year recommended revocation of environmental clearances granted to 42 iron ore mining leases located near national parks and sanctuaries in the state.

The forest bench had on 5 October last year halted mining operations in all the 90 mines in Goa considering the Justice Shah Commission report that had indicted almost all miners saying illegal extraction of iron ore during the last 12 years had caused a loss of Rs 35,000 crore to the state exchequer.

The court had recently started hearing the PIL after Sesa Goa, a Vedanta group firm and the country’s largest producer and exporter of iron ore in private sector, sought an early decision on the issue.