Mining licences 'Infringement in issuance must be referred to FIA, NAB'

A parliamentary panel Friday recommended that matter of issuance of mining licenses in violation of rules and regulations should be referred to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for investigation as it incurred multibillion rupees losses to the national exchequer.
The Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) met here with Senator Hilal-Ur-Rehman in the chair on Friday, where concerns were shown over non-cooperation of concerned departments with respect to provision of documents and details.
The committee had asked several questions from the concerned departments which are as under: "Were the prospective licenses issued in accordance with rule 100 of Mineral Concession Rules, which clearly states that a separate application shall be made in respect of each area and for each mineral?"
"During issuance of prospecting license, besides the ambiguous writing of Nephrite in brackets while applying for Serpentine mineral, were the provisions of rule 95 fulfilled while the prospecting license was issued on May 13, 2014? Did the inquiry committee examine this record? Was the prospecting license issued for a mineral as per rule 117?"
"Were the provisions of rule 124 'working obligations" fulfilled by the licensee M/s Bajaur Ancient Variety (Pvt.) Ltd? Which rule provides for exploration of mineral reserves and mining operations under the rules on prospecting license (as per inquiry report 14 trucks had been dispatched between July 01, 2015 to September 17, 2015)?"
"If the Mining Concession Rules, 2015 do not show for mining activities on prospecting license then how can the license issuing authority allow that in the license?" "How two mining leases can be issued in favor of M/S Bajaur Ancient Variety (Pvt) Ltd on one application dated 20/08/2014 for conversion from PL to ML for Nephrite (Sr No 134-35/FS/MCC/MOA/ML-Naphrite(43)2015 dated 28/08/2015 & an ML for Serpentine (Sr. No 136-37/FS/MCC/MDA/ML-serpentine(18)2015 dated 28/08/2015?"
"Whether did the inquiry committee examine the relevant record as per rules 133 and 134 in particular and provisions of Part-XIII in general pertaining to issuance of mining leases?"
"Did the inquiry committee or the department find out any instances that come under the purview of unauthorized mining as per rule 173 during the said period by the said licensee?"
The committee also sought details and original record about total number of leases issued to the said company for the Ambar Tehsil of Mohmand Agency along with their number of applications for grant of PL and ML licenses issued to the said company.
However, the committee chairman said that they took a long time on the issue and after having a thorough investigation it was observed that irregularities were committed, adding that the rules and regulations were not followed in this regard.
The committee observed that multibillion rupees losses were incurred to the national exchequer, adding that they cannot become silent spectators on the issue and a thorough inquiry is required into the matter. After thorough observations, the committee recommended that prospecting license and mining licenses were issued in violations of rules and regulations; therefore, these should be cancelled immediately and departmental inquiry should be conducted against the officials involved.
The committee also directed the Ministry of SAFRON to issue necessary directives to the FIA and NAB in this regard. The parliamentarians said that the committee gave proper time to FDA to find out a solution to the issue, but they failed to give proper answers to the questions.