'No question of quitting panel studying illegal mining in Goa'

Justice (Retd) R M S Khandeparkar today said that he will not quit the committee on illegal mining which he is heading and it is for the state government to take a call on the fate of the inquiry body.
"There is no question of me quitting the post or continuing here. The committee was given a certain mandate and it is for the government to decide about it," he told reporters here.
The committee, formed in November last year, has not met even once as the state-run Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation has been extending deadlines to furnish the office for the committee.

Justice Khandeparkar, a retired High Court judge, said the tenure of the committee was for one year and if the government refuses to extend it, it will lapse.
He ruled out that the committee might ask for extension of the tenure, claiming that "the committee is yet to meet. Only when it meets, it will decide on such things."
The Khandeparkar committee was formed in the backdrop of Rs 35,000 crore worth illegal mining in Goa claimed by Justice M B Shah commission.

The committee was mandated with the responsibility of going in details about the revelations of illegal mining unearthed in Shah commission report.

Justice Khandeparkar said the committee can meet only after putting in place the infrastructure as the highly sensitive files cannot be kept at unsecured places in the existing building.
The state government has also filed a complaint with the crime branch in connection with the illegal mining case.
He said he is yet to know what complaint state government has filed with the Crime branch.
When asked whether he will ask for the information from the Crime Branch, Khandeparkar said, "the decision to call for the information will have to be taken by the entire committee. I alone can't take the decision.