Irregularities galore in grant of Mining Lease

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, July 28: An application for Mining Lease is required to be disposed of within one year from the date of receipt, but Odisha Government seems to be hardly respecting the rules.According to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India that was tabled in the State Assembly on Monday, during scrutiny of records in selected circles, Director of Mines, Odisha and the Department, audit noticed that in two Circles three Miming Leases were granted and executed between 2007 and 2012 irregularly.The discrepancies noticed were as follows:“One ML under Joda Circle for lease of 47.219 hectare which included forest area of 26.89 hectare was granted in January 2009 against the application of November 1998 and the lease deed was executed in November 2009.” “Audit noticed that lessee was granted Prospecting Licence (PL) for two years from April 1998, but carried out prospecting operation in the area without obtaining approval from MoEF which was a breach of licence condition.Further the ML application was entertained though the application was submitted before expiry of PL period (February 2000).” “Besides above, lease was granted for iron and manganese though total quantity of manganese was extracted during the PL period and no reserve of manganese was available in the leased area,” the CAG said.“In one case, under Joda Circle, one ML for 4.84 hectare of forest area was granted in September 2008 which was applied in February 1986 and lease deed was executed in January 2010.The lessee did not obtain approval of Ministry of Environment and Forests for the total forest area included in the lease in spite of clarification (June 2008) of Forest and Environment Department not to grant lease and execute lease deed without prior approval.Further, ML application was entertained before expiry of PL period (July 1986) and ML granted despite submission of incomplete prospecting report,” according to the report.“In another case under Sambalpur Circle, ML for 25.046 hectare was granted in April 2007 and lease deed was executed in November 2007 though lessee applied for ML in October 1995 i.e.before expiry of PL period (October 1996).”“The Government in their reply did not furnish reasons for such lapses,” the CAG noted in its report.Under Section 11 of MMDR Act, a ML is to be granted to a PL holder if he has applied for the lease within three months after the expiry of PL and has undertaken prospecting operation to establish mineral resources in such land and has not committed any breach of the terms and conditions of PL.As per Section-2 of the FC Act, forest land cannot be used for non-forest purpose without prior approval of the Central Government.Further, as per guidelines on FC Act if a project involves forest as well as non-forest land, work should not be started on non-forest land without approval of the Central Government.