In a move, possibly the first of its kind, the governor of a mineral-rich state has questioned provisions of the proposed Mining Reforms Bill being drafted by the Centre. Though governors are considered to be political appointees, yet it has not deterred Chhattisgarh governor Shekhar Dutt to seek the intervention of the PMO in addressing the anomalies in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill 2010 and their consequent corrections.
In a letter to the PMO, Dutt has questioned the wisdom of the mines ministry in suggesting granting of licence to the first-in-time applicant as a general rule and ?licence by competitive bidding? as an exception. Arguing that it should have been just the opposite, that is according licence by resorting to competitive bidding, he said it should be the way as is being practiced for oil and gas exploration licensing and should be adopted for coal. Dutt contended that restriction on states to issue notification on an area over which applications for grant of prospecting licence/ large area prospecting licence were pending with the state virtually renders the bidding option infructuous because mineral bearing areas were always covered by some pending direct application. Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh has already raised various issues on the proposed legislation saying it needed to accomodate more views of the states.
The governor also pointed out that the law should allow the state government to notify for competitive bidding of any area. The bids received in pursuance of the notice inviting offers should be decided by applying a well-defined objective criteria based on parameters such as ?proposed investment in mineral-based industry? or ?revenue sharing? with the government along with clear projection of employment generation.
Dutt cited that as per the provision of the MMDR Bill, although states have been vested powers to allocate mineral properties through competitive bidding, ?such bids cannot be resorted to if someone has applied seeking mineral concessions before the issuance of the notice for such bidding.