SC questions Centre on environment clearance certificates granted to Goa miners

The Supreme Court today questioned the Centre for granting environment clearance certificates to mining firms, involved in the extraction of iron ore in Goa, allegedly without proper documentation and verifications.

"How you (Ministry of Environment and Forests) have given Environment Clearance (EC) certificates to them (mining companies). Have you considered the cumulative effect (of granting EC certificates) on the environment," a bench headed by Justice A K Patnaik said.

The court said that it would like to hear the response of Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran on behalf of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on the issue before hearing the Goa government.

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

The bench today started hearing the PIL filed by the Goa Foundation, an environmental action group, after Sesa Goa, a Vedanta group firm and country's largest producer and exporter of iron ore in the private sector, recently sought early dicision on the issue.