HC reserves order on NGO's plea against transportation of ore

The Bombay High Court today reserved its order on a petition filed by an NGO opposing the transportation of iron ore extracted till March 15, when the activity was banned by the Supreme Court.

A division bench of justices N M Jamdar and Prithviraj Chauhan, which has been hearing the arguments in the matter for last four days, did not specify any date for pronouncing the order.

The iron ore mining activity in the state came to a standstill from March 15 as the apex court quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in the coastal state in 2015. The Supreme Court had passed the order to this effect on February 7.

Goa Foundation had filed the plea in the high court challenging the action of the mining firms to transport the ore which is stocked inside or outside the leases.

Norma Alvares, the lawyer representing the NGO, pleaded before the high court that the ore, lying either inside or outside the leases, should be declared as the state property.

The NGO said that iron ore cannot remain a subject matter of commercial transaction or trade after March 15.

Alvares pleaded that the money earned by the 88 leaseholders from any transport and sale of mineral ore after March 15 must be deposited in the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund.

Defending the State Mines and Geology Department, Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande pleaded that the Supreme Court judgement has been misinterpreted by the petitioner.

He told the court that unless there is a statutory provision or specific direction by the apex court there cannot be a stay on the transportation of ore lying outside the lease area.