Supreme Court of India Banned Mining Activities in Goa

The Supreme Court on 5 October 2012 banned until further orders on all mining operations, in all 90 mines which also includes transportation of mined iron ore and manganese in leases, in Goa.

The Forest Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam, K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar granted the stay on a writ petition filed by the Goa Foundation, an environmental action group, and asked the Central Empowered Committee to give its response in four weeks. The court made it clear that no mineral, whether lying at a mine head or stockyard, would be transported until further orders.

The failure of the State government of Goa to control illegal mining has led to large-scale destruction of both forest land and non-forest land and had  adversely affected the livelihood of local people, especially the rural poor.
 
The Goa Foundation pointed out that the Justice M.B. Shah commisssion, appointed in November 2010, said illegal activities in mining had been going on in the State since 2000. All 90 mines were functioning without the mandatory permission from the National Board for Wildlife and 33 of them were located within 1.5 km of wildlife sanctuaries.