Appearing for a mining company, Sesa Goa, before the High Court division bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer on Friday in connection with the ban on illegal mining, he submitted that, the ban has affected the business of the petitioner. The business is completely a legal one, he contended.
“The State has power to check the illegal mining. We have no objection to curb the illegal mining , but it has no power to ban the export on ore,” he said.
“The State has nothing to do with export and import issue. Only the Union Government has a say in the foreign trade policy,” he added.
He said only the fine mineral, rejected by the domestic steel market, is exported from the country. If the fine mineral is not extracted and exported it can cause pollution in the mining region and places adjoining it, he added.
He also cited the Union Department of Mines submission, which stated that the ban on exports is not an ideal decision to curb the illegal mining.
