A division bench of the Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday said a petition filed by the Goa Foundation for recovery of nearly ₹21,000 crores from Vedanta Ltd. will be treated as a petition filed before the State and directed the government to take a decision on this within eight weeks.
A copy of the State government’s decision will be filed in the High Court, Claude Alvares, director of Goa Foundation, said here on Tuesday.
The Goa Foundation had last week filed a petition seeking directions on recovery of dues from Vedanta Ltd. for five years of illegal mining. The petition was based on a 2012 Supreme Court ruling declaring all mining in Goa between 2007 and 2012 as illegal as it was carried out without the benefit of a valid lease. It had ruled that the validity of all leases (some 127 at the time) which had worked during the period had expired on November 22, 2007.
The Goa Foundation had written to the Goa Government first in 2014 and then again in March 2018 requesting it to commence the process of recovery. of ₹65,058 crore, the value of the ore exported in the five years (2007-2012). As Vedanta was responsible for 31% of mining extraction in the State and export during the period, the first petition was filed against the same company.
However, the petitioners also drew the attention of the High Court to recover ₹45,000 crore from the remaining 126 lease holders.
The High Court had directed the State government to examine the issue in relation not just to Vedanta but to other lease holders as well.
