HC dismisses PIL challenging dump policy, says lease holder paid royalty

Panaji: The Bombay high court, while dismissing Goa Foundation’s PIL challenging a provision of the Goa Mining Dump Policy, held that mining dumps are generated due to mining activities carried out under approved mining plans. “Therefore, it must be presumed that the lease holder has already paid royalty with regard to the iron ore, if any, contained in the dumps,” the high court stated.

“Under such circumstances, the plea of disposing of the dumps, through a fresh process of auction, in our considered opinion, does not hold to reason. Rather, we are of the view that the mechanism prescribed under Clause 2(2) of the Policy of 2023 is not only fair and transparent but the same also adequately addresses the economic concerns of the state,” said the division bench of justices Suman Shyam and Amit Jamsandekar.

The court further stated that “the question of conserving the natural resources in Goa, bearing in mind the issues of sustainable development and intergenerational equity, is a very serious issue having great public importance” and appreciated the efforts of Goa Foundation in highlighting such issues of public importance, which led to significant judgments and directions passed by the Supreme Court.

Goa Foundation filed the PIL challenging Section 2.2 of the policy for regulating iron ore dump handling, arguing that the state cannot hand over large quantities of ore to former miners without securing the best price through a transparent auction process.
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