Minor Minerals, Section 15, and Deepak Kumar

In one line

The building stone, the gravel and the sand are the State's to regulate, and until 2012 nobody thought a quarry of under five hectares needed environmental clearance at all.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 3(e) defines a minor mineral as building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand other than sand used for prescribed purposes, and any other mineral the Central Government declares to be a minor mineral; section 14 takes sections 5 to 13 out of their application; section 15 empowers the State Government to make rules regulating the grant of quarry leases, mining leases and other concessions for them; and in Deepak Kumar v. State of Haryana, AIR 2012 SC 1386, the Supreme Court held that leases of minor minerals, including their renewal, for an area of less than five hectares should be granted only after obtaining environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

What a minor mineral is, and why the word is misleading

Section 3(e). "'Minor minerals' means building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand other than sand used for prescribed purposes, and any other mineral which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a minor mineral."

The name describes the value of a unit, not the scale of the industry. By volume, minor minerals are the largest mining activity in India. Every road, every building and every dam consumes them, and the number of quarries is enormous.

Nor does the definition track the geology. Limestone used for cement is a major mineral; limestone burnt for lime in a village kiln is a minor mineral in some States by notification. What decides is the list and the notification, not the rock.

The words "ordinary sand other than sand used for prescribed purposes" matter, because sand used for the prescribed purposes, which include use in the manufacture of refractories or in metallurgical, optical or ceramic industries, is a major mineral. So river sand for concrete is minor and silica sand for glass may not be.

The Central Government has notified many more, including boulder, shingle, chalcedony pebbles, limeshell, kankar, murrum, brick earth, slate, marble, road metal, reh matti, fuller's earth, bentonite, and ordinary earth used for filling or levelling.

Section 15: the State's power

Section 15(1). "The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for regulating the grant of quarry leases, mining leases or other mineral concessions in respect of minor minerals and for purposes connected therewith."

Section 15(1A) lists the particular matters, and they mirror section 13 for major minerals: who may apply and how, and the fee; the time and form of acknowledgment; what is considered where applications for the same land arrive on the same day; the terms, conditions and authority for grant or renewal; and the rest, including the royalty payable and the dead rent.