National Mineral Policy 2006 - Department of Mines

(ii)(iii)Areas are notified by state governments under Section 11(4) even whenapplications have been received and should rightly have been disposed of on thebasis of the first-in-time criteria;The criteria under Section 11(3) of the MMDR Act are being applied by the statesin a selective and subjective manner. Selection of applicants for grant of mineralconcession in multiple application cases is almost always disputed, giving rise tolitigation and delays. Between January 2001 and December 2005, out of 509approvals given for the mineral sector in Part C of Schedule I of MMDR Act,1957, 146 revision applications were filed.1.63 The Committee feels that it is important to ensure strict adherence to the tried andtested and globally adopted first-in-time principle in the mining sector. In view of the factthat the Committee is recommending an ‘open sky’ policy for grant of non-exclusive RPs,which would not give the RP holders any priority in getting PLs, the only incentive offered tosuch RP holders would be the assurance offered by the first-in-time principle. Therefore, forthe confidence of investors in such RPs, strict application of the first-in-time principle wouldbe imperative Not granting PL for an area to the RP holder who is the first to discovermineral occurrences in that area will discourage reconnaissance operations from beingundertaken, turn away investors, and lead to areas remaining unexplored. Therefore, the firstin-timeprinciple has to be made strictly applicable in the grant of PLs in non-exclusive RPcases and there is a need to delete discretionary provisions such as Section 11(5) of theMMDR Act.1.64 As regards MLs, the Committee is proposing a separate dispensation in respect of orebodies that have been fully prospected by public agencies such as GSI, Mineral ExplorationCorporation Limited (MECL), and the state Directorates, which may be seen in paragraph1.47. For the rest, the first-come-first-served approach is well tested in most progressivemining regimes. In cases where the holder of a LAPL/PL applies for a ML, the holder has tobe given the exclusive right to mine the prospected deposit. There cannot be any scope forexceptions or exemptions and Section 11(5) will have to be deleted as mentioned earlier.1.65 However, in cases where the area for which a ML is applied for is not under PL andalso not covered by the special dispensation for ore bodies emerging out of publicly fundedexploration programmes, the first-come-first-considered principle would still need to be used43