National Mineral Policy 2006 - Department of Mines

automatic until the exhaustion of the deposit or voluntary relinquishment of areas bythe lessees, whichever is earlier, subject, however, to the fulfilment of conditions ofthe lease. [1.60]Criteria for Grant of Mineral Concessions• Section 11(1) may be modified so that a non-exclusive RP holder has the right toobtain a PL on first-come-first-served basis rather than ‘a preferential right’. ALAPL/PL holder shall have the exclusive right to obtain the ML. These rights wouldof course be subject to the fulfilment of conditions in the MCR, including thoserelating to furnishing of data. [1.67]• Section 11(2) may be modified such that all persons applying for a RP are entitled toit, provided they are eligible as per pre-determined criteria for proving their credibilityand genuineness. A RP will be for all minerals and associate minerals (withexceptions specified where GSI or State agencies have already done some work) andmay run concurrently with or overlap other RPs, both in terms of time and area. TheRP holder who is first-in-time shall have the right to be granted a PL. [1.67]• Grant of the exclusive LAPL should be on the basis of well-defined criteria and againon the first-in-time principle. Where a LAPL/PL is applied for directly by two ormore persons, the applicant whose application was received earlier shall have apreferential right to be considered for the grant of the PL regardless of whether heholds an RP or not. The applications should be disposed of by the state governmentwithin a stipulated time limit. Where two or more applications are received for aLAPL/PL before the expiry of the time limit, the matter shall be decided by takinginto consideration the criteria mentioned in Section 11(3) of the Act, including thecriterion of value addition as detailed in Chapter 5. However, the eligibility criteriawill be laid down in the MCR for all RP and PL applicants so as to ensure that onlygenuine and credible applicants apply. To ensure that LAPLs/PLs are not obtained byspeculators who have no intent to prospect on the basis of a time-based mining plan, arule should be prescribed with heavy penalties for violation. Similarly, a minimumexpenditure limit per square kilometre should be imposed on an escalating scale so asto discourage such speculators. [1.67]194