National Mineral Policy 2006 - Department of Mines

Secretary. If the Directorate is independent of the Secretariat Department, there will befurther delay, as the Director of Mining and Geology will submit the proposal in the form of aletter to the government. If there is any query at any level there can be further delaysdepending on the nature of the query and information available to satisfy such query.2.10 If the Secretary to the state government comes to the conclusion that the proposal is inorder, he obtains the approval of the minister-in-charge of the Department. The matter maynot end with the approval of the minister on the file if the Rules of Business of the stategovernment require that matters relating to the grant of licence for RP/PL/MLs be put up tothe Cabinet for decision. Once the approval at the appropriate level has been obtained, in thecase of non-Scheduled minerals, where no relaxation from the provisions of the MMDR Actor the Rules is required, the matter is ready for issuance of government order and executionof the agreement in the office of the DMG. In the case of Scheduled minerals, or in the caseof non-Scheduled minerals, where a relaxation from the provisions of the MMDR Act or theRules is proposed, once approval of the state government has been obtained, the proposalgoes to the Central government for prior approval. The Time and Motion analysis referred toin paragraph 2.6 shows that a period of 6 months to one year may elapse between the date ofreceipt of application and the date of final disposal/referral to the Centre.2.11 If the proposal is complete in all respects, the examination in the Ministry of Minesmay not take much time. However, in most cases clarifications are required to be obtainedfrom the concerned state government because of incomplete documentation or non-adherenceto rules or lack of clarity in the proposal. Sometimes correspondence between the Ministryand the state government may go on for a long time and pendencies in the Ministry beyondone year are not unknown. Once all the information and clarifications have been received thefile is processed for the approval of the minister-in-charge for according prior approval,passing through the Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Joint Secretary, and Secretary in theprocess. It may be mentioned here that prior to 1992, decisions for according Centralapproval were taken at the level of the concerned Joint Secretary but since then this power isbeing exercised by the minister-in-charge of the Ministry of Mines.OTHER CLEARANCES2.12 After the grant of the mineral concession, various clearances are required fromdifferent agencies. For example, in the case of RPs where clearance is required for54