PANAJI
The Supreme Court dismissed the Goa government's plea that sought a review of the 2018 Supreme judgement that brought Goa’s mining to a halt.
In a judgement that was made public on Tuesday, the Supreme Court bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah rejected the pleas filed by the Goa Government, Vedanta and others (a total of eight pleas) seeking a review of the judgement dated February 7, 2018 cancelling the grant of second renewal for 88 mining leases in the State of Goa.
The Supreme Court noted how the pleas were filed after both the judges who passed the original decision had retired.
“The State of Goa preferred its four review petitions in the month of November 2019, after Justice Madan B Lokur’s retirement, while Vedanta Limited preferred its four review petitions in the month of August 2020, right after Justice Deepak Gupta’s retirement. Such (a) practice must be firmly disapproved to preserve the institutional sanctity of the decision making of this Court,” the Supreme Court said.
The Goa government’s application was filed with a delay of 650 days while Vedanta’s review plea was filed with a delay of 907 days, the Supreme Court noted.
“In accordance with rule 2 of Order XLVII of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, an application for review of a judgement has to be filed within thirty days of the date of the judgement or order that is sought to be reviewed. No cogent grounds have been furnished for the delay between 20 and 26 months by the two parties in filing their applications for review,” the Supreme Court bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said in their order.
“We are inclined to dismiss these review petitions on the ground of limitation alone. However, in any event, we also find that no legitimate grounds for review of the judgment in Goa Foundation II have been made out, and dismiss these review petitions on merits as well,” the SC said.
“This was the review petition. The main petitions and SLPs (special leave petitions) filed by Vedanta and Geetabala Parulekar (another leaseholder) are listed to be heard, which are on the basis of leases being valid till 2037. We remain optimistic that we will place the legal positions before the Supreme Court and mining will eventually restart,” the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association said in a statement.
“Furthermore, as has already been placed before the Supreme Court by the state and central government, auctions are not possible in those areas, where the challenge to abolition act is still pending,” the statement said.
