The state government has agreed to the demands of a petition filed by an NGO seeking directions to recover Rs 3,431 crore from mining companies on several occasions within a time frame.
After the state’s Advocate General told the High Court of Bombay at Goa that the amount was recoverable, the High Court bench recorded the undertaking of the Goa government that orders would be passed on all demand notices issued to the mining companies within a period of four months.
The court recorded that the director of mines would first deal with the demand notices issued (for Rs. 1,508 crore) to mining companies pursuant to the report of the team of chartered accountants appointed by the former chief minister, Manohar Parrikar. Thereafter, the department would enforce the notices raised pursuant to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in his 2016 reports (Rs 1,922 crore). The total of both reports amounts to Rs 3431.31 crore.
The demand notices on the report of the team of chartered accountants were issued in 2016. Those pursuant to the CAG report were issued in 2017. These notices were produced by the Goa government to prove its bona fides during the hearing of the writ petition filed by the NGO challenging the grant of 88 mining leases.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment setting aside the 88 mining lease orders, has also directed the Goa government to recover the amounts for which the notices have been issued.
Till date, the state government has recovered only Rs 4 crore from the errant mining companies, even as the notices were first issued by the Mines and Geology department in 2017.
The Goa Foundation filed a petition before the High Court bench for recovery of dues, claiming the government was dragging its feet vis-a-vis the recovery processes.
The petition said, “After conducting enquiries and also relying upon enquiries done by the Auditor General, Goa, demand notices for Rs 3431.31 crores were issued to various parties for recovery.”
Two other petitions filed by the NGO for recovery from mining companies are pending hearing before the High Court. The first involves the recovery of around Rs 1000 crore from mining companies that mined without being in possession of a valid mining lease. A second PIL demands recovery of Rs 65,058 crore due from the entire mining industry for conducting mining operations without being in possession of a mining lease for five years (2007-2012).
The committee of chartered accountants was set up following the revelation of Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam by the Justice M.B. Shah Commission in 2012.
The apex court has declared all mining carried out in the state of Goa from 2007 to 2012 as illegal.
