New Delhi: The crucial bill that provides for auctioning of coal may clear the Rajya Sabha hurdle after a Select Committee endorsed it by majority, though some members dissented, but a bill relating to other minerals will have to go back to Lok Sabha because of an amendment suggested by another panel.
The 19-member Select Committee on the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 headed by Anil Madhav Dave (BJP) with majority view recommended "enactment of the legislation without any modification".
However, the Select Committee on Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, headed by Bhupendra Yadav (BJP), suggested redrafting of one clause to make it mandatory for a mineral prospector to pay a percentage of royalty to the District Mineral Fondation for welfare of the local population.
Also, it recommended that state governments should be guided by Constitutional provisions on relating to administration of Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas. The two Bills, which have already been cleared by the Lok Sabha, are awaiting assent from the Upper House where the BJP-led NDA does not have adequate numbers.
But the fact that only five members of the Opposition including Congress, CPI-M and DMK have given dissent notes to the Coal Bill was perhaps an indication that other opposition parties including TMC, SP, BJD, AIADMK and BSP may not be strongly opposed to it unlike the Land Bill which many of them are dead set against.
While the Coal Bill looks set to clear the Rajya Sabha hurdle, the Mines and Minerals Bill too may sail through before the Parliament breaks for recess on March 20 if the government incorporates the amendments suggested by the panel.
After Rajya Sabha approval, the Mines bill will have to again go back to Lok Sabha for approval of the amendment. It is perhaps for this reason that the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) on Wednesday decided to have two extra sittings on March 23 and 24, if necessary, for considering the the bills come back from Rajya Sabha with amendments.
The two bills seek to replace the Ordinances promulgated in December which would lapse if not enacted before April 5. The report on the coal mines bill contained five dissenting notes from Digvijaya Singh (Cong), P Bhattacharya and Rajeev Shukla (all Cong), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and KN Balagopal (CPI-M).
Besides a dissenting note from TK Rangarajan (CPM), the report of the mines bill wanted the government to consider at a later stage issues like impact of mining activities on environment, rampant illegal mining, lack of proper and scientific mine closure, land acquisition and resettlement and capturing windfall profits for the welfare of local and tribal communities.
"The Committee, in view of limited ambit of amending Bill under its consideration, is of the opinion that these issues are of utmost significance that warrant serious consideration by the government.
"The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry should consider these issues to be incorporated subsequently in the MMDR Act, 1957 at an appropriate stage as well as in the relevant rules/regulations required to be framed thereunder," it said.
Digvijaya Singh (Cong) gave a dissenting note on the panel not accepting his demand to incorporate issues of labour dues, forest rights of the tribals and forest dwellers and environment clearance in the Bill.
Soon after Bhupender Yadav (BJP) tabled the Report of the Select Committee on the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 and Anil Madhav Dave (BJP) tabled the Report on the Select Committee on Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad rose to register his party's protest.
"We want to register our protest against the manner in which the two bills are being rushed for passage," he said. Rangarajan, in his dissent note on the mines Bill, argued that the provision for enhancement of the tenure of mining lease - as proposed in the Ordinance from the existing 30 to 50 years - should be withdrawan.
"Rather, a provision must be made for setting up a mechanism to ensure intermittent assessment of mine's performance," he said. Concrete provisions for effective mechanism for containing illegal mining, including strengthening of existing institutions involved in the management and monitoring of mining both in state-run firms and private sectors, should be put in place.
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