On February 15, the Supreme Court would conduct another hearing on the public interest litigation filed by an NGO Goa Foundation alleging the state government of allowing export of iron ore without verifying the correctness of the statement made by the exporter.
In its recent hearing, the apex court issued notices to the centre and the Goa government on a plea. The NGO argues that the state government violated the order of the Supreme Court by allowing export of iron ores, purportedly extracted from Maharashtra.
The court also sought the replies of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and various private companies to the allegation.
The NGO argues tjat the state government allowed export of iron ore on the basis of statement made by the exporter and is not based on any records available with the Director of Mines.
There appears to be no verification done as to the correctness of the application, which is necessary in view of order of this court, said advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO.
Taking note of Justice M B Shah Commission’s report which estimated a whopping Rs 35,000 crore loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining in the last 12 years, the court had halted mining operations in all the 90 mines in Goa on October 5, 2012.
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