HC orders 3 mining firms to give Rs 2 crore for desiltation

Panaji: The high court has directed three mining firms to jointly contribute Rs 2 crore to the District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT) for desiltating agricultural fields, Savat khazan, Kharat khazan, and the Poi/rivulet at Sirigao on the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
The firms are Bandekar Company Pvt Ltd, Sirigao; Chowgule and Company Pvt Ltd, Sirigao; and Dempo Mining Corporation Ltd, Bicholim. A PIL writ petition was registered based on a letter received by the court from the villagers of Sirigao in 2005.
The PIL writ petition raised several issues, one of which was about desilting of agricultural fields, Savat khazan, Kharat khazan, and Poi/rivulet. The grievance in the petition was that the pumping from the working mining pit and the discharge of water into the fields and canals/rivulet had caused considerable environmental damage.
The plea said agricultural fields were affected, thereby degrading the soil fertility due to silt deposition from the mining overburdens. Considerable expenditure was incurred to desilt the agricultural fields and the rivulet.
The court, by an order on Dec 18, 2019, directed that desiltation be carried out. The three mining firms were directed to contribute Rs 65 lakh each, while the DMFT was to contribute Rs 2 crore upfront to enable work to commence.
It was made clear that the issue of whether the mining companies should bear the full expenditure or not make any contribution towards the work would be decided at the time of the final hearing.
Senior advocates for the mining companies contested their liability to pay the amounts, saying that they already had contributed to the DMFT.
They argued that Kharat khazan was never the subject matter of the petition, they were not responsible for the siltation, and hence they could not be liable for the contribution. They added that they already had carried out the work at Savat khazan.
“We have no manner of doubt that it is the mining companies who will have to bear the expenditure of desiltation, applying the ‘polluter pays principle’ and having regard to the purpose for which the DMFT was constituted, which surely is not for the benefit of the mining companies,” observed the division bench of justices M S Karnik and Nivedita P Mehta.
The court observed that the only issue that remained was whether the contribution made from the DMFT fund was, in fact, the liability of the mining companies.
“We hold that it is the liability of the mining companies to bear the expenditure of Rs 2 crore paid by DMFT as well. There is no dispute that the expenditure is incurred. There are no disputed questions of fact involved in this petition, the question involved which we already answered,” the court observed. “We direct them to jointly pay/reimburse an amount of Rs 2 crore to DMFT for desiltation, which was done in terms of the directions of this court, within a period of six months from the date of uploading of this order.”