Mining Amendment Act to simplify procedures, avoid delays

 The Dollar Business Bureau The Steel & Mines Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, on Thursday, said the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Amendment Act will simplify the procedures and avoid delays in mining sector. Addressing the media, the Union Minister informed that once the Act is notified in a week’s time, the States will be provided with the draft rules of the Act to go ahead with the simplified mining procedures. The Union Minister further informed that the States will no longer have to wait for the Centre’s approval for a mining process, as the Act (Section 5(2)(b)) allows the State Governments to devise a system for filing of a mining plan avoiding the need for prior approval by the Central Government. However, in case of 10 minerals (in Part C of First Schedule)- Iron ore, Manganese, Bauxite, Copper, Gold, the States need to take the Centre’s prior approval before granting mining concessions. Speaking on the pending applications waiting for renewals, the Minister informed that under the new Act, the mining leases would be considered for extension from the date of their last renewal up to March 31, 2030 in the captive miners’ case, till March 31, 2020 in the case of merchant miners or till the completion of the period of renewal already granted. This would definitely permit the mines, that remained closed after having failed to get reply for their applications, to restart their stalled operations, the Minister added. He further informed that all mineral concessions would be granted by the States through the auction process, thereby ensuring a bigger transparency and removal of discretion. Unlike the 1957 Act, there will be no renewal of concessions and under the new Act, the tenure of the concessions has been extended from existing 30 years to 50 years, after which there exists only auctioning of leases in place of renewals. To address the concerns of the people getting affected due to mining operations, the Bill makes it mandatory to establish District Monetary Fund (DMF) in all districts where mining takes place. The Minister further informed that the Amendment also proposes to set up a National Mineral Exploration Trust, created out of contribution from mining lease holders, which would allow the government to have a dedicated fund for undertaking exploration activity. Under the stringent measures to curb illegal mining, the Amendment is coming up with plans, where all the offences would be subjected to a maximum punishment of 5 years, which also includes imprisonment or fine of Rs 5 lakh per hectare. In this regard, the State Governments were also empowered to set up Special Courts for speedy trial of such offences, the Minister added.    

This article was published on April 4, 2015.