- 9.1. Gemstone are an important Foreign Exchange earner and it may contribute sizeable revenue to the State Exchequer. With this in view, the Committee has recommended introduction of Trading Licence for collection of gemstones inside the State.9.2Gemstone are minerals which come under the purview of Mines and Mineral (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957. Mining of such minerals from any land Government or private-amounts to mining under Section 4(1) of MM (R. & D) Act. No. person can undertake prospecting or mining operations without taking PL/ML from Government over the areas from which the gemstones are found. As such any one other than a lessee finding a gemstone from an area outside the leasehold are had to surrender the same to Government. To encourage people finding gemstones from sporadic areas to surrender the same to Government, the State Government had adopted the policy (in notifications indicated under paras. (1 & 2) that the finders would be paid 50% of the value of the gemstones by OMC which worked as the agent of Government for the entire State. Government allowed OMC to retain the gemstones on payment of royalty as per rules. However, this arrangement has not been very helpful as the finders in interior areas are tempted to sell the gemstones clandestinely to middle men operating in those areas and offering low but ready price for the gemstones. OMC had been getting only Rs. 30-40 lakhs worth of gemstones per year through such purchases which is only an insignificant fraction of the total transactions. As such OMC has suspended its purchasing operations for the last two years. Accordingly, a more rational and workable arrangement has to be devised to enable the finders to freely sell the gemstones found any where from non lease hold areas to the authorised licencees who would pay the royalty to Government for the same and be permitted to dispose of the gemstones in an open and transparent manner.9.3The best way to achieve this objective is to appoint a number of Trading Licences under the Orissa Minerals (Prevention of Theft, Smuggling and Unlawful Activities) Act, 1989 and also induct them simultaneously as Sub-agents of OMC in respect of all non leasehold areas for which OMC continues as agent of the State Government under this arrangement, all lessees and selected persons agencies with financial credibility and business experience, can be appointed as trading licences and sub-agents of OMC to collect gemstones from any finder and dispose of the gemstones in any manner they like after payment of royalty to Government. The finders can collect from any locality (outside the leasehold areas), for which OMC continues as agent of Government. This modification of the existing policy will induce competition among a number of trading licencees to buy gemstones from the finders by paying a better price to them on competitive basis and ensure payment of proper royalty by the trading licencees to State Government. The whole operation will become open and transparent, the finder will get a better price, the Government will get higher royalty and also substantial licence fees from the trading licencees, Local lapidary units would also be able to purchase their requirement from the riding licencees which they are not above to do at present due to prevailing clandestine operations. At any time Government can part with a certain percentage/amount collected by them from license fees/and royality in favour of OMC, their agent, through budgetary mechanism.9.4As already mentioned, trading license for all minerals are granted by the competent Authority under Section 6 of the Orissa Minerals (Prevention of Theft, Smuggling and Unlawful Activities) Act, 1989. Rules have been framed for such purpose under Section 37 of this Act. To facilities the arrangement mentioned above, the rules will be suitably amended to provide for appropriate trading license for gemstones to lessees and other selected persons for procurement and disposal of gemstones from any non-leasehold areas under the following terms and conditions :(a)Payment of an annual licence fee of Rs. 1 lakh;(b)Security deposit of Rs. 1 lakh from each license (in shape of pledged certificate etc. interest on which will accrue to the licensee but in the event of forfeiture to the State).(c)A licence should satisfy the following conditions :(i)he should be lessee in respect of a gemstone bearing areas;(ii)if he is non-lessee, he should have good financial standing with appropriate registration under Sales Tax/Income Tax Act.Among non-lessees, preference will be given to those who have gem processing units in the State or give a definite commitment for setting up such units inside the State within a period of 5 years.9.5Conditions Licence - (a) The licence will be granted initially for a period of one year which is renewable annually. For each renewal, the licensee would have to pay a licence of fee of Rs. 1 lakh. Renewal can be made on satisfactory performance in terms of the provisions of Acts and Rules.(b)The licence would pay royalty on the gemstones sold to him from different sources on the basis of the sale price determined as per rules. The assessing authority will verify the sale price from time to time to ensure that appropriate royalty is realised by Government Subject to payment of royalty, the licensee can dispose of the stock in any manner he likes.
