Five leading miners in Goa namely Vedanta, Fomento Resources, GN Agrawal, Geetabai Parulekar and Prafull Hede had refused to make contributions towards Goa mineral ore Permanant Fund. These miners had submitted applications in the Supreme Court challenging the order of creating Goa mineral ore Permanent Fund and filed applications in Apex Court.
Goan miners contribute 10% of the sale value of all iron ore sold through e-auctions towards Goa mineral ore Permanent Fund.
As per the view of the mining companies when Supreme Court passed its judgement there is no requirement for a separate Permanent Fund as MMDR Act was amended in Jan’15 and a provision was made for District Mineral Fund (DMF). Thus it is a matter of “double taxation”.
On the other hand Goa Foundation considers the two funds to be different. Goa Permanent Fund is for meeting the needs of the future generations while DMF is meant to for rehabilitation of project affected people.
As per sources, in the hearing scheduled on 15 Dec’15 the Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing on applications from mining companies against continuance of Goa mineral ore Permanent Fund and the applications are likely to be heard in Jan’16. However any confirmation from the company officials has not been received yet.
Leave a Reply