The Bill to set up a regulator for the mining sector will be tabled in Monsoon Session of Parliament, effectively fast tracking the legislation as a result of the RIL-RNRL case.
Talking to FE on Wednesday, law minister M Veerappa Moily confirmed that the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Bill, 2010 is now with his ministry and would be introduced in the Monsoon Session of Parliament after getting a Cabinet approval. ?We are fine tuning the Bill and hope to make it an effective tool to combat irregularities and clearance delays,? he said. ?We will introduce it in the Monsoon Session?.
The ministry has now got political momentum to push the Bill as a result of the RIL-RNRL verdict and the ongoing case against the Reddy brothers? OMC in the Supreme Court. Both the cases happen to be on mining irregularities. The two cases have shown how necessary it is to have a regulator for the sector, especially as it is now established that the government has the ultimate claim on the country?s natural resources.
?The government feels that the mining sector?which has been opened up to private participation in the past?needs a regulator,? said a source.
?The Bill will have strict provisions and punitive action for those defaulting on allotment of iron ore to the government steel plants and coal to government-run power companies. Besides this, after the Supreme Court verdict on the RIL-RNRL case, pricing issues could also be included in the purview of this Bill,? said a source.
The MMDR will act as a tribunal outside the ministry and will consist of independent members.
The Bill, in fact, had been ready for quite some time now but both the mines and law ministry were dragging their feet on the matter?the latter more pre-occupied by the Women?s Reservation Bill.
The law ministry?s sudden activity, however, appears driven by the recent events and the political dividends of a regulator in the mining sector.