Salient Features on the Amendment to KMMCR 1994 dated 17.03.2023

1. Period of the Lease/License: In future period of the quarrying licence shall be granted for a period of 50 years for specified minor minerals, subject to establishment of Mineral availability and workability of the quarry and subject to provisions under Chapter II &II-A of KMMCR1995. The lease shall be granted on the condition that the Lessee shall pay royalty and additional payment.
2. All the quarry leases or licences granted earlier shall be deemed to have been granted for a period of 50 years in respect of specified minor minerals from the date of original grant subject to establishment of mineral availability and workability of the quarry and also subject to the condition that all the terms and conditions of the lease or licenses have been complied.
3. If the State Government is of the opinion that in the interest of development of Minor Minerals it may for reasons to be recorded authorize the extension of lease or licence for a further period upto 20 years subject to establishment of mineral availability and workability of the quarry and subject to provisions under Chapter II &II-A of KMMCR1995.
4. Status of Applications: All applications received for grant of lease prior to 12.08.2016, shall become eligible applications.
5. The No Objection Certificates: If the Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Conservator of Forests , Deputy Director or Senior Geologist fails to give No Objection Certificate or Joint Inspection Report as envisaged under Rules within 90 days from the date of communication, all the applications shall be placed before the District Task Force in its monthly meeting. The officer fails to issue NOC or Joint Inspection Report shall be summoned to the District Task Force Committee and obtain opinion from the concerned officer in the meeting , recording the proceedings of the meeting and the application shall be disposed off. With this, one can expect NOC within 120to 150 days from the date of communication of filing of application.
6. Additional Area: On obtaining permission from the jurisdictional Revenue department officer, the lessee or licencee may also stack non-saleable and rejected minor mineral outside the lease or licence area which is adjacent to the lease or licensed area with prior approval from the Deputy Director or Senior Geologist subject to submission of approved modified quarry plan and environment clearance.
7. In the interest of mineral development and to promote systematic scientific quarrying , if the mineral deposits found in the middle of the concession area falling in cluster association such minor mineral area deposit area shall be allotted to the leases falling in cluster through non-auction method.
8. In the interest of systematic and scientific quarrying if the land is available adjacent to the existing lease or license having an extent of 5 acres or below such area shall be allotted to lessee or licencee through non-auction route with necessary clearances as specified. The additional allotted area shall be 25% of the existing lease area or licensed area or one acre whichever is lower. The additional area so allotted shall be utilized for ancillary activities and not for mining activities.
9. All the Industrial Units established for the purpose of Minor minerals processing for value addition are required to be registered and they are required to submit annual returns without making any objections to the periodical visits of the authorized government officials.
10. If any variations found in quarry lease or licence area due to technical error the same may be corrected after conducting joint survey as a one time measure to correct the discrepancy.
11. The lessees or licencees who had failed to register the quarry lease deed during the currency of the earlier lease period have been provided one more opportunity to register the same by paying a fine for execution of supplementary lease or licence.
12. Quarrying Licence: The quarrying operations undertaken in private or patta lands are required to obtain quarry licence. All working permissions granted for ornamental stone quarrying earlier are to be considered as quarrying licence provided the jurisdictional officer shall issue licence and the same shall be registered as per the provisions.
13. Fresh freezing the reference or reduced levels of the concession areas prospectively through Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Center or any Empanelled agency after conducting of the DGPS and Drone or total station survey for the purpose of systematic and scientific assessment of quantity of minor mineral extracted and dispatched from the concession area.
14. All Minor Mineral transporting vehicles shall install Global Positioning System (GPS) and shall transport Minor mineral only in the approved route upon getting registered in the Integrated Lease Management System of DMG for effective monitoring.
15. No person shall carry on or allowed to carry on any quarrying operation within a distance of 15 meters if no blasting is involved and 100 meters if controlled blasting is involved from any public structure/road/building.
16. The lessee or Licencee are allowed to remove or transport the minor mineral extracted from a quarry during the currency of the lease or licence within 6 months from the date of expiry/surrendering of lease/licence.

For a detailed notification on the amendments, click here.

For further information on amendments and the rules kindly contact the official website of Department of Mines & Geology Karnataka.