Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 [Repealed]
PREAMBLE
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows
Prefatory Note Statement of Objects and Reasons. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 was enacted to govern the development and regulation of mines and minerals.
2. Sub-section (6) of Section 12-A of the said Act provides that the transfer of mineral concessions shall be allowed only for concessions which are granted through auction. The Central Government has received representations from industry associations stating that the said sub-section has caused difficulties which does not allow merger and acquisition of a company having captive leases. The Central Government has also received representations seeking clarification regarding areas for dumping of mining wastes in view of the observations made by the Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 562 of 2009 and Writ Petition (Civil) No. 435 of 2012.
3. It is, therefore, felt necessary to provide for transfer of captive mining leases granted otherwise than through auction in order to facilitate legitimate business transactions. It was also felt necessary to define leased area in order to expand the scope of lease area by including therein dumping of mineral rejects.
4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above object.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be called the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016.
Section 2. Amendment of Section 3
In Section 3 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (67 of 1957) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for clause (a), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely
(a) leased area means the area specified in the mining lease within which mining operations can be undertaken and includes the non-mineralised area required and approved for the activities falling under the definition of mine as referred to in clause (i);
(aa) minerals includes all minerals except mineral oils; .
Section 3. Amendment of Section 12-A
In Section 12-A of the principal Act, in sub-section (6), the following shall be inserted, namely
Provided that where a mining lease has been granted otherwise than through auction and where mineral from such mining lease is being used for captive purpose, such mining lease may be permitted to be transferred subject to compliance of such terms and conditions and payment of such amount or transfer charges as may be prescribed.
Explanation. For the purposes of this proviso, the expression used for captive purpose shall mean the use of the entire quantity of mineral extracted from the mining lease in a manufacturing unit owned by the lessee. .
Section 4. Amendment of Section 13
In Section 13 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), after clause (qqj), the following clause shall be inserted, namely
(qqja) the terms and conditions and amount or transfer charges under the proviso to sub-section (6) of Section 12-A; .
1. Received the assent of the President on May 6, 2016 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 1, dated 9th May, 2016, pp. 1-2, No. 28