the goan I network
PANAJI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed issue of notice to respondents, including the director of mines, Goa and the Union Mines Ministry in petitions filed by Goa mining company, Vedanta Resources (formerly Sesa Goa Ltd) and another mining lease holder Geetabala Parulekar.
The petitions pertain to validation of mining leases for 50 years with effect from the 1987 cut-off date set by the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, for conversion of erstwhile Portuguese issued ‘concessions’ to mining ‘leases’.
The industry is placing some of its bets on the outcome of these petitions to pave the way for kick-starting operations in the sector which have ground to a halt since February-March 2018 when the Supreme Court held all leases renewed by the State government based on a Bombay High Court order, to be illegal.The petitions came up for hearing on Wednesday before a three-member Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde with Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant also on the Coram.
“Issue notice returnable in four weeks,” the Chief Justice’s Bench said in the order.
