The Supreme Court today allowed e-auctioning of nearly 11.48 million tonnes of extracted iron ore lying unused in Goa for over a year after it halted mining operations in 90 mines there.

The e-auctioning would be conducted under the supervision of a three-member committee which will have former bureaucrats U.B Singh and S Naiumuddin as members. The third member will be an officer not below the rank of a joint secretary.

The apex court, which on October 5, last year had stopped mining, transportation and export of iron ore in Goa following a report of irregualrities by the Justice M.B Shah Commission, also ordered setting up of another six-member panel which would file its report by February 15, 2014, suggesting the annual cap on volume of iron ore to be extracted.

“The state government is allowed to do the e-auctioning,” a three-judge forest bench headed by Justice A.K Patnaik said, adding that the amount collected be kept as “fixed deposits till this court decides the matter.”

Reading from its draft order, the bench, also comprising justices S.S Nijjar and F.M Ibrahim Kalifulla, said the six-member panel will have one representative each from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Department of Mining besides “an ecologoist, a geologist, a mineralogist and an expert on forest.”

Asking the Centre and others to come up with the names of experts on November 18, it said, “The committee of experts shall give the report as to what should be the ceiling on mining.”

The six-member panel would look into the issues of fixing the annual cap on iron ore mining by keeping in view the principle of inter-generational equity and the environment-carrying capacity, it said.

The issue of environment-carrying capacity relates to what extent the environment and surroundings of a mine can sustain or bear ore extraction activities.

“They (panel members) will be entitled to the remunerations equal to their last drawn salaries,” the bench said, adding their other allowances will be reimbursed on submission of bills.

PIL on alleged illegal iron ore extraction

The bench, which said the copy of its order be sent to the members of the panel, observed that it would pronounce the verdict on the PIL after the filing of the report by the expert committee on February 15, next year.

Earlier, it had said that an interim order would be passed relating to constitution of panels for looking into various aspects of iron ore mining in Goa.

The bench had also reserved the verdict on the issue of allowing mining operations in the state which had been halted following the report of the high-level commission headed by Justice Shah indicting all miners, saying illegal extraction of iron ore during the past 12 years had caused a loss of Rs 35,000 crore to the state exchequer.

NGO Goa Foundation had filed the PIL on alleged illegal iron ore extraction in the state.

Earlier, the Goa government had said that 45 million tonnes of iron ore extraction can be allowed annually.

The state had also sought the permission from the court to transport and export 11 million tonnes of already excavated iron ore, lying unused following the ban on mining.

During the hearing, the apex court had said that there should be a proper system in place to regulate mining and other related activities in Goa.

The court had recently started hearing the PIL after Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group firm, sought an early decision on the issue.

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