Any contravention of rule 72 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a terms which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to Rs. 5,00,000/- (Rupees five lacs) only, or with both; and in case of continuing contravention, with an additional fine which may extend to 50,000/- (fifty thousand only) for every day during which such contravention continues after conviction for the first such contravention:
Provided that the contravention of rule 72 for the first and the second time may be compounded by an officer authorized by the Government under section 22 of the Act and the case in relation to the subsequent contravention shall be filed by the officer so authorized in the competent court of law. The manner of compounding of offence shall be as under:-
(i) In case of illegal mining carried out manually the amount of compounding fee shall not be less than Rs. 10,000/- if the mineral extracted is upto 25 metric tonnes;
(ii) If the quantity of illegal mining carried out exceeds 25 metric tonnes, additional compounding fee @ Rs. 500/- per metric tonne shall be charged;
(iii) In case of second contravention a minimum compounding fee of Rs. 25,000/- shall be charged;
(iv) In case of illegal mining done mechanically in the river/stream beds, the amount of compounding fee shall not be less than Rs. 50,000/-.]