the goan I network
PANAJI
More than seven years after the damning Shah Commission report unearthed a massive illegal iron ore mining scam, the Goa government is still struggling with its effort to prosecute the perpetrators and has now constituted a five-member panel headed by its Mines Secretary to cure its prosecution strategy of lacunae and fraud.
Goa’s Inspector General of Police, the Law Secretary, the Director of Prosecution and the Mines Director are the other members of the panel tasked with examining the matter holistically and scrutinize the pending cases for legality of the prosecution processes adopted and also check their sustainability in the courts.
The Mines Director will serve as ‘member secretary’ of the committee, the notification issued by Under Secretary (Home) Nilesh Dhaigodkar, said.
Sources in the Home Department also said, that the government was prompted to set up this panel after it was left red-faced when at least three cases failed the judicial test owing to cavalier shortcomings such as complaints being filed beyond the limitation period.
The cases were investigated by the Special Investigation
Team (SIT) constituted by the State government and drawn from the elite Crime Branch of the Goa Police.
Over the last six years, sleuths of the SIT investigated many cases of illegal mining which found mention in the Shah Commission report and also interrogated several miners including some prominent local industry leaders.
At least a dozen FIRs were also lodged, some of which have already been chargesheeted in courts while others are stuck at various stages of the prosecution process.
But the prosecution of the illegal mining cases suffered severe setbacks in the courts including recently when the South Goa District and Session Judge at Margao discharged the accused in a 2016 case on grounds that the court was barred from taking cognizance of the offences under section 468 of the Criminal Procedure Code based on the complaint which was filed beyond the limitation period, the Home Department source said.
Meanwhile, Dhaigodkar’s notification said the committee headed by the Mines Secretary will suggest “corrective measures” and recommend them to the government to rid the lacunae in the prosecution of illegal mining cases.
