Section 46 in Maharashtra Minor Mineral Extraction (Development and Regulation)Rules, 2013
46. Every quarry lease shall be subjected to conditions.
- (i) The lessee shall pay royalty on minor minerals removed from the leased area at the rates specified by the Government, from time to time, on the date of the grant of the lease:Provided that, such rates may be revised only once in every three years.(ii)The royalty shall be paid by the lessee quarterly for the quarters ending March, June, September and December and shall be payable within fifteen days after completion of every quarter.(iii)For the purpose of computation of royalty dues, the lessee shall compute the said dues on the basis of self assessment and make the payment in the treasury accordingly. It shall also be binding on the lessee to make payment of the difference of royalty after final assessment demand from the Competent Officer:Provided that, the Competent Officer, without prejudice to the provision contained in rules, shall charge simple interest at the rate of fifteen percent per annum, on the delayed payment of royalty and other mining dues form the sixtieth day of the expiry of the date fixed by the Government for payment of such royalty and other mining dues until payment of such royalty and other mining dues is made.(iv)The lessee shall submit to the Competent Officer and the Director, a quarterly return in Form-L for the periods ending on the 30th June, 30th September, 31st December and 31st March in respect of payment of royalty.(v)The lessee shall also pay for every calendar year of the lease such yearly dead rent as specified by the Government, from time to time, and if the lessees permitted the working of more than one minerals in the same area, shall pay such separate dead rent in respect of each mineral as may be fixed by the Government, from time to time:Provided that, the dead rent may be revised once in every three years:Provided further that, the lessee shall be liable to pay the dead rent or royalty whichever is more, but not both, in respect of each minor mineral:Provided also that, the dead rent shall not be payable for the first three month following the execution of lease.(vi)The lessee shall also pay for every calendar year, surface rent and cess equal to non- agricultural assessment for the area for which working permission has been granted to him. Period to be calculated prospectively from the date of execution of lease as well as for the lease area for which no working permission has been granted.(vii)Unless the Competent Officer for sufficient cause permits otherwise, the lessee shall commence quarry operations within three months from the date of execution of the lease and shall transfer, carry them in a proper, skillful and workman like manner so as to ensure the safety of labourers, conservation of minerals etc.:Provided that, if the Government is of the opinion that it is expedient so to do in the interest of regulation of mines and minerals development, preservation of pollution or to avoid danger to public health or communication or ensure safety of building , monuments or other structure or for such other purpose, as the Government may deem fit, to terminate permanently any quarry lease, after issuing due notice of thirty days to the lessee, terminate or determine such quarry lease in respect of any land:Provided further that, the Government may after the premature termination of quarry lease, grant quarry lease in favour of another eligible person or such Government company or corporation owned or controlled by Government as it may think fit.(viii)Before lessee commences quarry operation, the lessee shall, in consultation with the Competent Officer and at his own expense, demarcate the leased area through the Deputy Superintendent of Land Records and erect and maintain in good condition prominent boundary marks and pillars, necessary to indicate the area leased to him and shall at all time maintain and keep such boundary marks and pillars in good conditions. The lessee shall also keep proper maintenance of any road, power transmission line, tramway, railway, Ariel ropeway, pipeline etc. passing through his lease hold area. He shall also make proper passage for water used for quarry purposes. He shall keep such maintenance in case of any type of land (either Government land or private land) under his lease hold area.(ix)The lessee shall take adequate steps to ensure that,-(a)height and width of benches in opencast quarries are properly maintained to facilitate easy removal of mineral and the muck.In case of quarry in alluvium or soil or murum or gravel clay or debris or any such loose or soft formation the faces of the quarry shall be sloped at an angle of safety not exceeding forty-five degree (45o ) from the horizontal so also the faces of the quarry shall be worked by the lessee in such a way so as to form benches and the height of every such bench shall not exceed one and half meters (1.5 meters with the breadth thereof not less than the height).In case of hard-rock formations the faces of quarry shall be sloped at an angle of not more than sixty degrees (60o ) from the horizontal and the quarry face shall be in bench pattern. The height of any bench shall not exceed six meters and the breadth thereof shall not be less than the height;(b)The working faces are always kept clean; and(c)The minor minerals won are stacked in suitable dimension and each stack is numbered.(x)If any minor mineral not specified in the lease is at any time discovered in the lease area, the lessee shall without delay report the discovery to the Competent Officer and also to the Director and shall not undertake any quarry operation in respect of such minor mineral or dispose of such minor mineral without obtaining a separate lease therefor. If the lessee fails to apply for such lease within three months from the date of the discovery of mineral, the Competent Officer may grant a lease in respect of such minor mineral to any other person.(xi)The lessee shall arrange for a proper sanitation of the area leased to him.(xii)The lessee shall abide by all such reasonable instructions or direction as may from time to time be issued by the Government or the Director, regarding the conservation and development of minor minerals.(xiii)The lessee shall abide by the provisions of any law in force relating to the working of mines and matters affecting safety, health and convenience of his employees, of the public visiting the site and shall respect all existing rights of way, water and other easements vesting in any other person.(xiv)The lessee shall not carry on or allow to be carried on any quarry operations at any point within a distance of fifty meters, if no blasting is involved, and two hundred meters, if blasting is involved,-(a)from the boundary of any railway line, unless a written permission of the railway authority concerned is obtained in that behalf;(b)from the boundary of any reservoir, canal, road, river, nallah, irrigation works or public works or buildings, unless a written permission of concerned authority of the Government is obtained in that behalf. In granting any such permission, the Government may impose such conditions on advice of railway authority or any concerned authority and the lessee shall abide by such conditions.(xv)The lessee shall keep correct and true accounts of expenses incurred by him on quarry operations and also the accounts showing the quantity and other particulars of all minor minerals obtained, the names of the purchasers , the receipts for money received, and the number of employees present in the quarry and complete plans of the quarry and shall furnish to the Competent Officer, and the Director such information, reports and returns as any of them may require, from time to time, together with representative samples of minerals obtained during the operations and shall submit by the 10th day of every month to those officers, a return in Form-M giving the total quantity of material raised in the preceding calendar month and its value. The lessee shall also furnish to the Competent Officer and the Director, annual return giving the total quantity of material raised in the preceding year and its value in Form-N by the 15th of January every year:Provided that, if the period of the lease expires before the close of a year, the lessee shall also furnish returns for such shorter period.(xvi)The lessee shall allow any officer authorised by the Government in this behalf or the Competent Officer or any officer authorised competent officer to enter upon any building, excavation or land covered by his lease for the purpose of inspecting the same or for inspecting the accounts plans and record which may be required to produce before such officer. Any such officer may issue such reasonable directions as he may deems fit to prevent wasteful extraction of minerals, and it shall be the duty of the lessee , his agent or manager to carry out such directions with such period as the officer may specify.(xvii)Where the strengthening or supporting of any part of quarry is necessary for the safety of any railway, reservoir, canal, road or any other public work or structure, the lessee shall cause it to be done to the satisfaction of the concerned railway authority where the safety of the railway is involved and to the satisfaction of any officer, authorised by Competent Officer for this purpose.(xviii)If the lessee fails to undertake quarry operations within a period of one hundred eighty days after the date of execution of the lease, or, having commenced quarry operations, has discontinued the same for a continuous period of one hundred eighty days, the lease shall be treated as lapsed on the expiry of the period of one hundred eighty days from the date of execution of the lease or as the case may be, discontinuous of the quarry operation:Provided that, the Competent Officer may, on an application made by the holder of such lease before its expiry under this sub-rule and on being satisfied that it will not be possible for the holder of the lease, to undertake mining operation or to continue such operations for reasons beyond his control, make an order, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order, to the effect that such lease shall not lapse:Provided further that, the Government may on an application submitted by the lessee, within a period of six months from the date of its lapse and on being satisfied that such non- commencement or discontinuance was due to reasons beyond the control of the holder of the lease, revive the lease from such prospective or retrospective date as it thinks fit but not earlier than the date of lapse of the lease:Provided also that, no quarry lease shall be revived under the aforesaid provisos for not more than twice during the entire period of the lease.(xix)The lessee shall report all accidents immediately to the District Magistrate, the Superintendent of Police and the Competent Officer, or in case the severity of accident so warrants, the concerned Director of Mines of Safety of Government of India.(xx)The Government shall be immune from the lessee's claims for the damages on account of any land having been included in this lease which may subsequently be discovered not to have been available for the lease.(xxi)The lessee or his transferee or assignee shall not erect any building in contravention of the provisions of any law, order or instructions in force relating to the erection of the buildings or in contraventions of any orders issued by any officers or authority competent to issue such orders under any such laws, orders or instructions within whose jurisdiction the leased area is situated.(xxii)The Government shall at all times have the right of preemption of the minor minerals won from the land in respect of which the lease has been granted:Provided that, the fair market price prevailing at the time of pre-emption shall be paid to the lessee for all such minor minerals.(xxiii)Right of the State or Central Government or any local authority to construct any road, railway, canal, reservoir or public work or the right of any authority to carry any electric or telephone lines or poles in or over the lands demised under the lease is reserved:Provided that, before such right is exercised a notice of not less than thirty days shall be given to the lessee and the area utilised for any of the aforesaid purpose shall be excluded from the area under the lease.(xxiv)The lessee shall immediately submit a report to the Collector, the District Magistrate, the Chief Inspector of Mines, Dhanbad, the Controller General, Indian Bureau of Mines, the Director and Senior Geologist or Geologist, Junior Geologist posted in the area as soon as-(a)the depth of any opencast excavation measured from its height to the lowest point reaches six meters, or(b)the explosives are used, and at such time thereafter as the District Magistrate or the Chief Inspector of Mines may direct.(xxv)The lessee shall allow any Government Department to remove by way of departmental work without any payment of royalty from any non worked portion of the leased area, any minor mineral required for bonafied Government work, on receiving written instructions from the Competent Officers. The Competent Officer shall issue such instruction to lessee on receiving written and specific request from that officer of any particular departments who is competent to certify the benefited Government work, in question as regards the extent of such work and quantity of minor mineral or minerals specifically required for it:Provided that, the Government Department shall give the amount of compensation due to the land owner or the lessee, as the case may be, if the lease has been granted of private land.(xxvi)The lessee shall issue along with every dispatch of mineral outside the lease hold area for any mode of transport a Transit pass in Form-O.(xxvii)The lessee shall pay to the occupier of the surface of the land, such compensation as may primarily be decided, mutually, amongst the lessee and the individual land holders, prior to any disturbance to the land that would be caused by the quarry operations. The lessee shall for this purpose, submit an affidavit at the time of execution of the quarry lease deed, to the effect that he has entered into such mutual agreements with all the concerned land holders and with those land holder with whom such an agreement could not be entered into, the lessee has obtained provisional written order from the concerned Sub-Divisional Officer to enter into such land with the intention of commencing quarry operations:Provides that, the concerned Sub-Divisional Officer shall have such case registered in his court under the provisions of section 48 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966:Provided further that, the concerned Sub-Divisional Officer shall settle such cases of surface compensation regarding quarry lease on priority basis and considering the merits of the cases.(xxviii)In case of quarry lease granted over any Government land, lessee shall pay to the Government the compensation or occupancy price as determined and fixed by Revenue authorities.(xxix)The lessee shall comply strictly all the relevant provisions of the following Acts and Rules and corresponding procedures framed by the Central or State Governments under these Acts and rules, namely:-(a)the Mines Act 1952.(b)the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules-1988.(c)Any other Act or rules which the Central or State Government may make applicable, from time to time, as regards minor minerals.(xxx)(i)The lands on which quarry lease is granted shall be reclaimed by the lessee.(ii)The lessee shall restore ecological balance before mining operations.(iii)The lessee shall plant the trees around the leased area and maintain the same. He shall ensure that the greenery in the area is maintained.(xxxi)(1) Any other special conditions which the Competent Officer may specify, subject to the approval of the Government.(2)In case of breach or breaches by the lessee or his transferee or assignee, of any of the conditions specified under rule (46) (1) (i) to (xxxi) above, the Competent Officer shall give notice in writing, to the lessee or his transferee assignee asking him to remedy breach or breaches in full, within thirty days from the date of the notice and if the breach or breaches is or are not remedied fully within such period, the Competent Officer on expiry of this notice period and by an order in writing impose penalty not exceeding an amount equal to twice the rate of dead rent applicable to be paid within a period of eight days from the date of issue of such order. In case of non-payment of the penalty so imposed within this specified time, an additional fine of an amount equal to rate of dead rent per day shall be imposed upto such period during which contravention continues. Furthermore, if such contravention still continues even after imposing such penalty, for this continued contravention, the Competent Officer shall serve a final notice to the lessee or his transferee or assigns to remedy the breach or breaches within a period of fifteen days from the date of such notice and in case even on the expiry of this notice period, if the breach or breaches are not remedied fully, the Competent Officer shall determine the quarry lease forthwith and recover the amount of penalty and fines as arrears of land revenue.
