By Hemant K. Batra
The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 (the Amendment Act, 2021), an Act additional to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (the Act 1957) became a reality in much less than 15 days of its 1st introduction as a Bill in the Lok Sabha. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the mentioned Bill on 19th March and 22nd March, 2021, respectively. The Amendment Act, 2021 received the assent of the President on the 28th March, 2021 and was published in the Gazette of India on the very same day. As claimed by the concerned coal and mines minister, this new law is a step towards attaining mineral safety of the nation.
Undoubtedly, the Amendment Act, 2021 seems to be an earnest try by the Government in the suitable path to facilitate the current shackled and underexploited mining situation. Moreso when the mineral sector contributes much less than 2% of the India’s gross domestic item, leaving it to import minerals whoppingly worth INR 2.5 trillion per annum. As per readily available statistics, barely 10% of clear geological prospective stands explored by India of which merely 5% has been for mining purposes.
The Act, 1957 was broadly amended earlier in 2015 to bring about various reforms in the mineral sector, especially requiring auction of mineral concessions to recuperate transparency and introducing stringent penalty for illegal mining. Subsequently, the Act, 1957 was additional amended in 2016 and 2020 to permit transfer of leases for non-auctioned captive mines and to deal with the emergent concern of expiry of leases on 31st March 2020.
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The current Amendment Act, 2021 amplifies an objective to abundantly utilise the prospective and capacity of the mineral sector so as to intensify employment possibilities and investment in the mining sector such as coal. The consequential intention also incorporates rising the income to the States along with the flow in production as properly as time bound operationalisation of mines such as sustaining endurance in mining operations right after modify of lessee, rising the pace of exploration and auction of mineral sources.
The most substantial amendment below the new legal regime of the Act, 1957 being the elimination of differential remedy amongst the captive and merchant mines, as the amendment now enables – auction of mines in future without having restriction of captive use of minerals as properly as sale by the current captive mines such as captive coal mines of up to fifty per cent of the minerals developed right after meeting the requirement of the linked finish use plants. In other words, no mine will be reserved for specific finish-use. This yielding concession will make certain optimal mining of mineral sources. Although, the lessee will have to spend added charges for the minerals sold in the open marketplace. This noteworthy amendment has been carried out on the premise that the sale of minerals by captive plants shall help and expedite development in production and provide of minerals top to industrial viabilities in mineral production and consequently producing added income to the States. In reality, the current amendment introduces payment of added quantity to the State Government on extension and grant of mining lease of Government corporations so as to conceive a level playing field amongst the auctioned mines and the mines of Government corporations.
Further, the new Amendment Act, 2021 very valiantly delivers that all the valid rights, approvals, clearances, licences, and the like granted to a lessee concerning a mine shall stay valid even post expiry or termination of lease and that such authorisations shall be transferred and conferred to the profitable bidder of the mining lease. Undeniably, regardless of modify of lessee, this specific amendment will assure uninterrupted mining operations, preservation of mineral and avoidance of repetitive, overlapping, and superfluous approach of acquiring clearances however once again for the very same mine. The amendment also addresses the bane of pointless pending instances of non-auctioned concession holders which have been termed by the framers of law as “anachronistic and antagonistic to the auction regime.” Rightly so, the amendment ends the pending instances of non-auctioned concession holders which did not lead to grant of mining leases. It is anticipated that the conclusion of the pending instances would ease and allow the
Government to place to auction a huge quantity of mineral blocks in the very best interest of nation top to a timely and prompt operationalisation of such blocks and unquestionably added income to the State Governments.
To draw fresh investment and new technologies in the mining sector, the new Amendment Act, 2021 eliminates the restrictions on transfer of mineral concessions for the non-auctioned mines. A new disciplinarian technique has also been inserted in the Act, 1957, which although has an efficacious agenda, could nevertheless be branded by some as meddling with State affairs. The Act, 1957 empowers the States to handle and oversee the auction of mineral concessions except the coal, lignite, and atomic minerals. The new amendment now empowers the Central Government to notify the region and conduct auction in instances exactly where the State Governments face difficulty or fail in notifying the regions and conducting auction. This measure is to make certain auction of as quite a few mineral blocks on common basis for continuous provide of minerals in the nation. Under the newly amended regime, the Central Government shall stipulate a timeline for completion of the auction approach
The new legal regime in the mining and mineral sectors does nullify various restrictive and covert provisions as they existed in the erstwhile Act, 1957. However, any public policy and legislation, no matter how worthwhile and timely they are projected to be, have to stand the test of time and judicial overview.
(The author is a Delhi-based industrial and corporate lawyer. The views expressed are his personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of TheSpuzz Online)