The Directorate General Mines and Minerals (DGMM) NWFP is seeking judicial powers for establishing special judicial magistrate or appointing a judge for resolution of mines-related disputes, protection of mineral resources from wastage for its utilisation in national development to attract investment in the sector, sources told Business Recorder on Monday.
The proposal has already been sent to the chief minister for his approval for its passage from the Department of Law to allow the DGMM to appoint a special judicial magistrate or a judge in BPS-18.
In case of the approval of the proposal, the directorate has also requested the provincial chief executive to issue a notification through the law department to all courts concerned about not hearing cases under Mining Concession Rules 2005 and Mines Act 1923 as they would be out of their ambit of authority.
The provincial government had adopted Mining Concession Rules 2005 in the light of the National Mineral Policy 1995. Under the Rules of 2005, the directorate has been given mine regulatory powers and Mining Concession Rules have included sections on control of illegal mining and resolution of the ownership rights along with punishment for the violators. But, there was no section or clause in Mining Concession Rules 2005 and National Mineral Policy to give magisterial powers or appoint special magistrate making its implementation impossible.
Similarly, the proposal said that the attitude of the local administration is also creating difficulties in the implementation of the rules and a lot of time wasted resulting in the suspension of the exploration. The practice is also encouraging illegal mining.
The surface dispute with the landowners also creates problems for the leaseholders, which forcibly stop the exploration and work remain suspended for a long period.
The sources said that due to these problems both domestic and foreign investors are hesitant to invest and the burden is always borne by the national exchequer. Similarly, the lack of co-operation on behalf of police is also encouraging illegal mining and creating hurdles in the implementation of the rules.
The responsibilities of the safety division of the directorate include protection and welfare of the minors under the Mines Act 1923.
The mine inspectors are empowered to supervise the violation of the laws and visit the sites to review the situation and in case of finding any kind of violation and threats to the lives of the labourers, then they pinpoint immediate legal solution and send the case to a trial court after getting approval from the Chief Inspector Mines. The court announces the decision after investigating the report of the inspector concerned. But, usually labourers have not been provided justice in due time as the decision of such cases are required a long period of time.
CAUSES: The causes behind the legal complications is the lack of information with general courts about mining-related matters as they are of technical nature and general courts face difficulties in deciding such cases.
The existing courts also have to hear a lot of cases as these courts can not pay the required attention to the cases of the minors and they take years in deciding the cases.
In this connection, when the Business Recorder contacted DG Mines and Minerals Mian Farooq Iqbal, he confirmed that the directorate has sent the proposal to the Chief Minister Secretariat for approval.
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