In keeping with its policy of allocating non-coal mines only through a transparent auction route, the mines ministry, India has started working on amending a legislation that will pave the way for auctioning of offshore blocks.
Sources in the mines ministry said that the Offshore Areas Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 would be amended soon as it does not have any provision for auctioning of the mineral resources in territorial areas.
This is in contrast with the provisions of the mines and minerals (development and regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 that makes it mandatory for allocation of any non-coal mines through the auction route only.
“With the amendment, the government intends to bring in uniformity in the process of allocation of mineral blocks. This would also ensure transparency in the process,” said a source in the mines ministry.
Apart from crude oil and other hydrocarbons, all minerals in offshore areas, including atomic minerals, are governed by the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002.
The mines ministry had earlier thought of using section 29 of the Act that empowers the Center to make any “enactment so extended shall have effect as if the offshore area or the part thereof, as the case maybe, is a part of the territory of India”, to carry ahead with the auction of the offshore blocks. However, the law ministry did not agree with the idea and asked it to make amendment to the Act.
India is bound by the Indian Ocean on the South, the Arabian Sea on the South-West and the Bay of Bengal on the South-East and has more than 7,500 km long coastline and the territorial waters cover more than 0.15 million sq km. Seabed resources of these areas and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering about 1.87 million sq km have also come to light in recent years. If legal continent shelf is taken into account, total offshore area would become about 3.09 million sq km, mines ministry sources said.
The government had in 2010 allocated 62 exploration mineral licenses in the offshore area, but none has made any significant headway so far and now proposes to auction over 50 blocks in the current fiscal.
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