(1) Where an application for the grant or renewal of an exploration licence is delivered personally, its receipt shall be acknowledged forthwith.
(2) Where such application is received by speed post or registered post, its receipt shall be acknowledged on the same day.
(3) In any other case, the receipt of such application shall be acknowledged within three days of the receipt.
(4) The receipt of every such application shall be acknowledged in Form I.
15. Disposal of application for renewal of exploration licence- (1) An application for the renewal of an exploration licence shall be made at least ninety days before the expiry of the exploration licence and shall be accompanied by the following documents and information : -
(i) a statement relating to the exploration operations already undertaken by the applicant;
(ii) details of expenditure incurred;
(iii) the numbers of hours and days for which the work was undertaken;
(iv) reasons in details for renewal of exploration licence; and
(v) the period which is required to complete the exploration work.
(2) An application for the renewal of an exploration licence shall be disposed of by the administering authority before the expiry of the period of such exploration licence and if the application is not disposed of within that period, the licence shall be deemed to have been extended for a further period till the administering authority passes order thereon.
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(3) The administering authority may, at the time of renewal, for reasons to be recorded in writing and communicated to the applicant, reduce the area applied/for
(4) The administering authority may, if the application for renewal of exploration licence has been made before the expiry of the licence, condone delay in submission of such application for renewal of an exploration licence made after the time limit provided in sub-rule (1)
16. Refusal of application for an exploration licence- (1) If the administrating authority is satisfied that the application is in order, he may issue an order for grant of an exploration licence in Form J Subject to such terms and conditions as are specified in rule 18 and the additional terms and conditions as may be stipulated therein,
(2) The administering authority may, after giving an opportunity of being heard and for reasons to be recorded in writing and communicated to the applicant, refuse to grant or renew an exploration licence over the whole or part of the offshore area applied for.
(3) An application for the grant or renewal of an exploration licence made under rule 13 shall not be refused by the administering authority only on the ground that Form G or Form H, as the case may be, is not complete in all material particulars, or is not accompanied by the documents referred to in clauses (a),(b) and (c) of sub-rule (2) of that rule.
(4) Where it appears that the application is not complete in all material particulars or is not accompanied by the required documents, the administering authority shall, by notice, require the applicant to supply the omission or, as the case may be, furnish the documents without delay and in any case not later than thirty days from tha date of receipt of the said notice by the applicant.
17 Status of grant on death of the applicant for exploration lic«nce.-(1) Where an applicant for the grant of an exploration licence dies before the order granting him an exploration licence is passed, the application for the grant of an exploration licence shai be deemed to have been made by his legal representative, in case such legal representative is otherwise eligible for the grant of licence.
(2) In the case of an applicant in respect of whom an order granting an exploration licence is passed but who dies before the deed referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 19 is executed the order shall be deemed to have been passed in the name of the legal representative of the deceased, in case such legal representative is otherwise eligible for the grant of licence.
18 Conditions of an exploration licence.- (1) Every exploration licence granted under these rules, shall, in addition to any other conditions that may be specified therein, be subject to the following-conditions, namely:- 108 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA: EXTRAORDINARY [PART II—SEC. 3(i)l
(i) the licensee shall pay exploration charges at the rate of five thousand rupees as a consideration for every standard block of five minutes latitude by five minutes longitude covered by the exploration licence for each year or part of a year of the period for which licence is granted or renewed;
(ii) for every standard block as specified in clause(i), the licensee may win and carry for purposes other than commercial purposesfa) any quantity of such minerals within the limits specified in column
(3) of the Schedule without any payment;
(b) any quantity of such minerals not exceeding the limits specified in column (4) of the Schedule on payment of royalty for the time being specified in the First Schedule to the Act in respect to those minerals:
Provided that if any quantity in excess of the quantities referred to in sub-clause
(b) is won and carried away, the administering authority shall recover the cost of the excess quantity of minerals won and carried away.
(iii) with the written approval of the administering authority, the licensee may carry away quantities of minerals in excess of the limits specified in the Schedule, on payment of royalty for the time being specified in the First Schedule to the. Act, for chemical, metallurgical, ore-dressing and other test purposes;
(iv)(a) the licensee shall report to the administering authority the discovery of any mineral not specified in the licence within a period of sixty days from the date of such discovery. Consequent upon such reporting, the newly discovered mineral shall, be deemed to have been included in the exploration licence except the mineral oils namely oil, gas, gas hydrate, oil sands or any other hydrocarbon compound,
(b) the licencee shall, if encountered during exploration operations, report indications of any form of mineral oil, namely, oil, gas, gas hydrate, oil sands or any other hydrocarbon compound, to the administering authority within a period of sixty days from the date of such encounter, who in turn shall pass on the information to the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas:
Provided that no atomic mineral shall be included in the exploration licence without approval of the Department of Atomic Energy.
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(v) (a) the licensee shall not, except with the previous sanction of the administering authority, transfer his licence to any person :
Provided that no exploration licence shall be transferred to any person who has not filed an affidavit stating that he has filed an up-to-date income-tax return and paid the income tax assessed on him and paid the income tax on the basis of self assessment as provided in the tncome-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961):
Provided further that the administering authority shall not grant its sanction for the transfer of exploration licence unless the transferee has accepted all the conditions and liabilities, which the transferor has in respect of such exploration licence.
(b) where on an application for grant of sanction to transfer the exploration licence under sub-clause (a), the administering authority has granted sanction for transfer of such licence, a transfer deed in Form.J, or a form as near thereto as possible shall be executed within three months of the date of consent, or within such further period as the administering authority may allow in this behalf.
(c) the administering authority may, by order in writing and after providing the licensee the opportunity of being heard, cancel such exploration licence at any time if the licensee has, in the opinion of the administering authority, committed a breach of this clause;
(vi) the licensee shall not pay any wage less than the minimum wages prescribed by the appropriate Government from time to time, under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948);
(vii)the licensee shall make available all data or information collected bv him and submit reports as per the provisions of clauses (a), (b), (c) and
(d) of sub-section (2) of section 5 ;
(viii)the licensee shall maintain accurate and true account of all the expenses incurred by him on the exploration operations and also the quantity and other particulars of all minerals obtained during such operations and their dispatch ;
(ix) the licensee shall allow every officer authorised by the Central Government or the administering authority in this behalf to examine at any time accounts maintained and furnish the Central Government or the administering authority or any other officer authorised by it in that behalf such information and returns as they may desire ;
(x) the licensee shall allow any officer authorised by the Central Government or the administering authority in this behalf to inspect any exploration operations carried on by him ;
(xi) the licensee shall give at least two months advance notice before commencement of the exploration work to the Ministry of Defence to UO ; THE GAZETTE OF INDIA ; EXTRAORDINARY [PART II—SEC. 3(i)] ensure that the exploration work does not interfere with any Naval exercise in the area ;
(xii)to undertake the exploration operations only Indian contracted companies should preferably be deployed. In case foreign contracted companies are to be deployed, prior approval of the Ministry of Defence shall be obtained and data shall be collected under supervision of Indian representatives of the licensee who shall ensure appropriate security safeguards ;
(xiii)the exploration data should be processed in India and such processed and unprocessed data may be imparted to any foreign contractor only with prior approval of the Central Government;
(xiv) all vessels deployed for exploratory work by the licensee himself or contracted companies shall undergo Naval security inspection of the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the concerned Naval Command, Flag Officer, Offshore Defence Advisory Group prior to their deployment. A clear one month's notice is to be given to facilitate clearance or inspection.
(xv) all vessels deployed for exploratory work by the licensee shall obtain prior clearance from the Directorate General of Shipping in terms of the relevant provisions of the Merchant and Shipping Act, 1958 (44 of 1958) and the rules made thereunder;
(xvi) intimation regarding awards of contracts to other contracted companies along with details of the contracts shall be forwarded to the Naval Headquarters (Directorate of Naval Intelligence), Ministry of Defence suitably in advance of the operations by the licensee providing six monthly long case on vessels deployment, by operating companies ;
(xvii)appropriate visa shall have to be obtained from the competent authority for all foreign personnel on board the vessel and for this purpose, the contracted company shall provide a list of such foreign nationals to competent authority for prior visa authorization ;
(xvinj the licensee shall take all precautionary measures for safety and security of all vessels or equipments deployed for exploration activities
(xix) for issuing the marine safety warnings, the licensee shall immediately inform the Flag Officer, Offshore Defence Advisory Group and the administering authority the location indicating all vessels and equipments'or machinery deployed at particular location and thereafter its new location as and when it is shifted.
(2) An exploration licence may contain such other conditions relating to the following as the administering authority may think fit to impose, namely:-
(i) indemnity to Central Government against the claim of-a third party for any damage, injury or disturbance caused to him by the licensee;
(ii) restrictions on exploration operations in any offshore area prohibited by any competent authority;
(iii) conditions regarding entry in certain parts of offshore areas;
(iv) facilities to be given by the licensee for working other minerals, mineral oil and hydrocarbon resources in the licenced area or adjacent areas;
(v) filing of civil suits or petitions relating to disputes arising out of the offshore area under exploration licence.
(3) The administering authority may, either with the previous approval of the Central Government or at the instance of the Central Government, impose such further conditions as may be necessary in the interest of mineral development:
(4) In the case of breach of any condition imposed on any holder of exploration licence by or under this rule, the administering authority may, by order in writing, cancel the licence or forfeit, in whole or part, the amount deposited by the licensee under rule 21 or do both.'
Provided that no such order shall be made without giving the licensee a reasonable opportunity of being heard or stating his case.