SC backs disposal of Goa iron ore dumps without fresh auction

New Delhi: Upholding the Goa government's policy on regulating iron ore dump handing, the SC on Thursday ruled that the state can permit former mining leaseholders to remove and dispose of inventoried mining dumps lying outside their lease areas on private or government lands without conducting a fresh public auction.

A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant said that environmental protection in these cases is one of the biggest issues. If someone creates any obstruction in the cycle of removal and placement of mineral dumps, it can lead to very serious environmental consequences, it said. "First, an entity has to identify the exact material, what is saleable and what is not saleable, then it has to determine who will undertake the process, segregate the material, evaluate it, invite tenders, deal with challenges to those tenders and settle the conditions. Because of this process, the material will remain dumped there, leading to very serious consequences, therefore, it is also in the public interest that the material is moved from there," the CJI said while refusing to interfere with the Bombay High Court order that upheld Clause 2(2) of the Policy for Regulating Iron Ore Dump Handling in Goa.