In exercise of the powers under sub-section
(1) of Section 15 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act,
1957 (Act No. 67 of 1957), read with Section 21 of General Clauses Act, 1897
(Act No. 10 of 1897), the Governor is pleased to make the following rules, with
a view to amending the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession) Rules, 1963. (1)
These
rules may be called the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession)
(Thirty-seventh Amendment) Rules, 2014. (2)
They
shall come into force with effect from the date of their publication in the
Gazette. In the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession)
Rules, 1963, hereinafter referred to as the said rules, for Rule 3, the
following rule shall be substituted, namely "3. Mining
operations to be under a mining lease or mining permit. (1)
No
person shall undertake any mining operations in any area within the State of
any minor mineral to which these rules are applicable except under and in
accordance with the terms and conditions of a mining lease or mining permit
granted under these rules: Provided that nothing shall affect any
operations undertaken in accordance with the terms and conditions of a mining
lease or permit duly granted before the commencement of these rules. Explanation. For the purposes of this rule
manual digging or manual extraction of ordinary clay, ordinary earth for making
bricks and pottery, shall not be treated as mining operations: Provided that pit created by such digging or
extraction should not be deeper than two metres. (2)
No
mining lease or mining permit shall be granted otherwise than in accordance
with the provisions of these rules.". In the said rules, for Rule 9, the following
rule shall be substituted, namely "9. Preferential
right of certain persons, (1)
Where
the availability of area/areas are declared by the District Officer for grant
of mining lease under the provisions of Rule 72, all the applications received
during the period specified in such declaration shall be deemed to be received
on the same day and shall be considered simultaneously after taking into
consideration the matters specified in sub-rule (2) and shall grant the mining
lease to such one of the applicants as he/she may deem fit. (2)
The
matters referred to in sub-rule (1) are (a)
Any
special knowledge or experience in mining operations possessed by the
applicant; (b)
The
financial resources of the applicant; (c)
The
nature and quality of technical staff employed or to be employed by the
applicant; (d)
The
conduct of the applicant in carrying out mining operations on the basis of any
previous lease or permit and in complying with conditions of such lease or
permit of the provisions of any law in connection therewith; and (e)
Such
other matters, as may be considered necessary by the State Government. (3)
Notwithstanding
anything contained in sub-rules (1) and (2) leases for one-third of the mining
areas of Naxal affected villages, as declared by the State Government by
general order, may be granted to the Self Assistance groups containing the
members of the local residents where such leases are situated and such
one-third areas shall be marked for the purpose by the District Officer of the
district, after seeking such approval from the Government: Provided that those Self Assistance groups
will be entitled for getting preference under sub-rule (3) in which one-third
members belong to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/members of the castes
traditionally engaged in sand mining such as Mallah, Kewat, etc. and are
resident of the same village, where the lease areas are situated.". In the said rules after Rule 9 the following
rule shall be inserted, namely "9-A. Procedure
for grant of mining leases in respect of sand or morrum or bajri or boulder, or
any of these in mixed state, exclusively found in the riverbed Notwithstanding
anything contained in Rule 9, the mining leases for sand or morrum or bajri or
boulder or any of these in mixed state, exclusively found in the river-bed,
shall be granted in the manner given hereafter. (a)
The
area and its availability for grant of mining lease shall be declared, in
accordance with the provisions of Rule 72 mentioning therein the location of
the area, annual lease amount, as provided in Rule 14, and period of 7 working
days, during which the application will be received by the officer nominated
for this purpose by the District Officer along with the time and place of
opening the applications; (b)
During
the specified period for receiving the applications, as mentioned in the
declaration, the desirous and eligible persons may submit their applications in
a sealed envelope, mentioning the name of the area and name of the applicant on
the cover of first sealed envelope. In the sealed envelopes, two other sealed
envelopes shall be kept by the applicant, in which the name of area and name of
the applicant shall be written, on the cover of envelopes, and both the
envelopes be captioned as 'A' and 'B'; (c)
In
the first sealed envelope Captioned 'A', the applicant shall put the following
documents, namely (i)
Application
in form MM-1; (ii)
A
fee of Rs. 5000 and deposit of Rs. 10,000 for meeting the preliminary expenses,
other than those specified in Rule 17; (iii)
Character
Certificate given by the District Officer of the district, where the applicant
permanently resides; (iv)
Solvency
Certificate of such amount, which is not below the half of the annual lease
amount of the applied area; (v)
'No
Objection Certificate' from such other officers, as mentioned in Rule 6; (vi)
Self-Declaration
by the applicant to the effect that (a)
The
applicant has neither been involved in any illegal mining activity during past,
nor he was punished for the offence of illegal mining by any competent Court of
Law; (b)
No
proceeding has been initiated against the applicant by a Government department; (c)
No
criminal history of the applicant; (d)
The
applicant has not been black-listed; (d)
In
the second sealed envelope, Captioned 'B', the applicant will submit two
documents, namely (i)
Declaration
about the area applied for grant of mining lease to the effect that he is
offering non-refundable and non-adjustable amount of Rs.
.............................(over and above Royalty/Dead Rent); (ii)
A
Bank Draft payable in favour of the District Officer of the district to the
tune of one-fourth of the amount, as offered by the applicant and mentioned in
sub-clause (i). Balance amount of the offer mentioned in sub-clause (1) has to
be paid before the execution of the lease deed; (e)
For
processing the applications and offers, received during the specified period a
Committee consisting of the following members shall be constituted, namely (i)
The
District Officer, or any other officer, Chairman nominated by the District
Officer (ii)
The
Divisional Forest Officer, or any other officer, Member nominated by him (iii)
The
Officer nominated by the Director, Geology Member and Mining, Uttar Pradesh,
Lucknow (iv)
Regional
Officer of the Geology and Mining Member Department (v)
Mines
Officer/Mines Inspector of the District Member-Secretary (f)
On
the date and time fixed for the purpose, the Committee will firstly prepare a
broad sheet in which the name of the area, extent of the area, specified period
for receiving applications, received applications, and particulars of the
applications will be mentioned. It will also be determined by the Committee
that those applicants, who are not qualified, and not found eligible a special
remark will be mentioned against their names in the Board-sheet, and then their
offer will not be considered; (g)
The
committee shall thereafter open the second sealed envelope Captioned as 'B' of
only those applicants, who have been found qualified for obtaining the mining
lease, their offer will also be mentioned against their names. The Committee
will also mention the Bank Draft details name of the bank, number and amount of
the bank drafts, annexed by the applicants. Those applicants, who have not
annexed the bank drafts of the requisite amount, they will be ousted from the
field of consideration; (h)
After
preparation of the broad-sheet, as described above, the Committee will submit
its record note with recommendations to the District Officer for grant of the
mining lease in favour of such applicants, who are eligible and have also offered
highest and satisfactory amount for obtaining the mining lease; (i)
The
District Officer, in the light of the record note, submitted by the Committee,
will forward a proposal to the State Government for obtaining prior consent;
and will issue a formal grant order in favour of such applicant after obtaining
the prior consent of the State Government; (j)
Those
applicants, in whose favour the mining lease is not recommended by the District
Officer their bank drafts will be returned to them immediately; (k)
The
other provisions of these rules shall mutatis mutandis apply to the leases granted
under this rule.". In the said rules, for Rule 10 the following
rule shall be substituted, namely "10. Extent of
area for which a mining lease may be granted: (1)
Minimum
area for grant of a mining lease for sand or morrum or bajri or boulder or any
of these in mixed state exclusively found in river bed shall ordinarily be five
hectares and mineral found in the form of rock and not displaced from the place
of its origin and other minor minerals shall be one hectare: Provided that in case of non-availability of
such extent of area this sub-rule shall not apply. (2)
No
mining lease shall be granted in respect of any area which is not compact and
contiguous or otherwise not suitable to scientific development: Provided that in respect of small deposits
not suitable to scientific mining in isolated patches a mining lease may be
granted for a cluster of such deposits without any division. (3)
No
person shall acquire in respect of any minor mineral, except sand or morrum or
bajari or boulder or any of these in mixed state exclusively found in riverbed
exceeding three mining leases, covering a total area of more than 25 Hectares: Provided that mining leases in respect of
sand or morrum or bajari or boulder or any of these in mixed state, exclusively
found in the riverbed exceeding five in number or four hundred Hectares in area
shall not be granted in favour of any person in the State of Uttar Pradesh: Provided further that if the State Government
is of opinion that in the interest of mineral development, it is necessary so
to do, it may for reasons to be recorded in writing permit any person to
acquire one or more mining leases covering an area in excess of the limits
mentioned above. Explanation. For the purposes of these rules,
a person acquiring by or in the name of another person a mining lease which is
intended for himself shall be deemed to be acquiring it himself.". In the said rules, in Rule 21 for sub-rule
(1-a) the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely "(1-a)
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Rule 3 royalty should be
payable by concerned brick kiln owner or user of ordinary clay on ordinary
earth at the rate specified in First Schedule to these rules.". In the said rules after Rule 52 the following
rule shall be inserted, namely "52-A. Procedure
for grant of mining permit on agricultural land (1)
Notwithstanding
anything contained in Rule 72, the bhumidhar of agricultural land may apply for
grant of mining permit for removal of sand and morrum accumulated due to flood
on his agricultural land in Form MM-8, in triplicate, to the District Officer,
accompanied by a fee of Rs. 2000 (Rupees Two thousand) only, and two copies of
a Cadastral Survey Map on which the area, applied for, is clearly marked. (2)
The
District Officer shall cause an enquiry, if deemed necessary, through concerned
Tahsildar and Mines Officer/Mines Inspector on the following points (a)
Whether
the sand and morrum have been accumulated on the applied land due to floods; (b)
Whether
the name of the applicant/applicants is/are recorded as bhumidhars on the
applied area; (c)
Whether
due to accumulation of sand and morrum, the applicant/applicants is/are
suffering loss on account of non-utilization of such applied land; (d)
Whether
such land was utilized for agricultural purposes during the past years; (e)
Whether
the quantity of the minor mineral, applied by the applicant, is available on
the applied area; (f)
Whether
the applied area for mining permit is suitable for mining. (3)
In
the light of aforementioned point-wise report submitted by the Tahsildar/Mines
Officer or Mines Inspector, as the case may be, the District Officer may grant
the mining permit for a period not more than three months in a Fasli year in
favour of the bhumidhar, after realizing the amount of royalty in advance. (4)
Except
abovementioned provisions, the other provisions of these rules will apply
mutatis mutandis to the mining permit granted under this rule.".UTTAR
PRADESH MINOR MINERALS (CONCESSION) (THIRTY-SEVENTH AMENDMENT) RULES, 2014
PREAMBLE