Officials say amount was to be paid to the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund; LESSEES MOVE SC
PANAJI
The State Government's Department of Mines and Geology has sent show cause notices to various mining lessees most prominently Vedanta's Sesa Goa Ltd and associate companies claiming that the lessee owes the State government dues to the tune of Rs 39 crore that were to be paid to the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund.
Officials of the Mines Department have confirmed that notices were sent on October 24, seeking that the money be paid up.
"Notices have been sent to the company. The total due to the government is Rs 39-crore," sources told The Goan.
Sesa Goa Ltd, has however, countered this claim saying that they are not eligible to pay the money as they are using the extracted ore locally.
Sesa Goa Ltd, has filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court in Goa Foundation's mining writ petition challenging the Government's notice.
The matter came up before the Supreme Court on Thursday, with the government claiming that its interpretation of the Supreme Court's earlier order was correct.
Sesa Goa Ltd, has in its application before the court prayed that after the amendment of the MMDR Act in 2015 they are not required to make any payments to the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund (GIOPF) on grounds that the payments required to be made to GIOPF are only on the sales of iron ore.
"Since the applicant (Vedanta) is not selling the extracted iron ore and is consuming it in its own factory or it is lying in the leased premises without being sold, no payment is required to be made to GIOPF," Sesa Goa has claimed as recorded in the Supreme Court's order.
Counsel for Sesa Goa has said that they would reply to the State Government's notice within the stipulated period of 14 days.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta has asked the government to "adjudicate on the show cause notices at the earliest."
An official of Sesa Goa Ltd, declined to comment on the matter citing the fact that the matter is subjudice. "This is a subjudice matter. It will not be prudent to comment. We believe we are right and have got legal backing for our stand. We will give a legal reply as and when is necessary," the official said.
Besides Sesa Goa Ltd, several other mining lessees including Dr Prafulla Hede, G N Aggarwal and others have approached the court saying that they are not obliged to make payments to the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund.
