Last Updated: 5/21/2025 11:39:00 PM
The Mining Engineers Association of India, a national body with 5,000 engineers, fears there would be large scale closure of mines across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment in the Goa mining case. The association has appealed to the Government to amend the Mines and Minerals Act to revive the mining sector. A Bagchhi, President of the association said that “The apex court judgment brought out a serious anomaly in the Mineral Concessions Rules and the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules 1988 vis-à-vis the MMDR Act, which makes operations of several mines in India questionable and against the spirit of the judgment. Unless this inconsistency is removed, the ban in Goa is bound to spread nationwide to other States.” He pointed out that “Goa had 118 iron ore mining leases working till suspension of mining in October 2012. During 2011-12, mines in Goa had produced about 24 million tonnes of iron ore, with the total revenue generated from the ore export being 21,818 crore.” The Supreme Court judgment in the Goa case in April and its interim order in the Odisha case in May held that mines operating in the 2 States under deemed extension beyond first renewal was illegal. Source - Business Line
