Attracting private investment and eliminating delays are among the main objectives of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, which the Narendra Modi Government is keen take up in the winter session of Parliament.
Under this, illegal mining is proposed to be declared as a cognizable offence with provisions for enabling State governments to set up Special Courts to try such offenders.
“We are keen to get the momentum back in the mines sector. Please give us your critical feedback on the Bill,” Anup Pujari the Union Mines Secretary, said at the inaugural session of the Global Mining Summit on Wednesday.
He said that the government was trying to unbundle the sector and do away with regulatory permits for certain notified minerals. The bill prescribes competitive bidding by auction as the method to be followed for allocation of Mining Leases for notified minerals. Reconnaissance Permits or Prospecting Licences is proposed to be done away with for these minerals.
The minerals which are proposed to be notified would include iron ore, limestone, manganese and bauxite. The Amendment Bill seeks to differentiate between bulk surface minerals and deep-seated, difficult-to-access minerals. Bulk minerals account for 85 per cent or more of the value of mineral production in India. These will be subject to different procedures.
Importantly, the Amendment seeks to empower the Centre to pass orders in cases where a State Government fails to pass orders within time limits prescribed. While the Centre now has powers to pass revision orders, this provision became necessary as experience showed that in many cases authorities entrusted with powers under the existing Act do not pass orders within set time limits.
It may be mentioned that the previous government at the Centre had also planned to introduce an amended MMDR in 2011 to repeal the 1957 Act. However, it could not pass the legislation and it had lapsed.
