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The Goa Foundation v. M/s Sesa Sterlite Ltd. and Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2018 INSC 110Decided 7 Feb 2018
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 711 of 2015
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Deepak Gupta

Background

Following the Supreme Court's earlier landmark ruling in Goa Foundation (on illegal iron ore mining in Goa), the State of Goa was required to grant fresh mining leases rather than simply renewing existing ones. Instead, the State granted a "second renewal" of mining leases to lease holders, and the Ministry of Environment and Forest lifted an earlier abeyance order on environmental clearances rather than issuing fresh ones. The Bombay High Court (in the Lithoferro case) upheld this approach and directed the State to grant second renewals, prompting the Goa Foundation (an environmental NGO) and others to challenge this before the Supreme Court as contrary to the Court's own earlier directions.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that its earlier decision in Goa Foundation obliged the State to grant fresh mining leases in accordance with law, not second renewals, and that the State was not constitutionally required to do this only through competitive bidding/auction. It found the second renewals were granted in undue haste, without considering all relevant material, and primarily to boost state revenue, a purpose outside the scope of Section 8(3) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, and therefore quashed the second renewals. It also held the Ministry of Environment was obliged to grant genuinely fresh environmental clearances, not merely revive the abeyance order, and set aside the Bombay High Court's contrary ruling in Lithoferro. As a transitional measure, lease holders operating under the quashed renewals were permitted to continue mining only until 15 March 2018, after which they had to stop until fresh leases and fresh environmental clearances were obtained, with directions to the State to expedite the process, implement pending investigation/audit reports, and recover dues from mining lease holders.

Lesson Learnt

When a court sets specific directions for correcting an unlawful practice (here, replacing lapsed leases with "fresh" grants rather than renewals), state authorities cannot sidestep those directions through administrative relabeling (calling something a "renewal" or quietly lifting a suspension): courts will enforce the substance of their earlier orders, even years later, and can order an immediate halt to ongoing commercial operations found to be non-compliant.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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