Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
(1) Where prospecting licence has been granted in respect of any land within the State, the holder of the licence shall have a preferential right for obtaining a mining lease in respect of that land over any other person: Provided that the State Government is satisfied that the licencee had not committed any breach of the terms and conditions of the prospecting licence and is otherwise a fit person for being granted the mining lease. (2) Subject to the provisions of Sub-section (1), where two or more persons have applied for prospecting licence or a mining lease in respect of the same land, the applicant whose application was received earlier shall have a preferential right for the grant of the licence or lease, as the case may be, over the applicant whose application was received later: Provided that where any such application is received on the same day, the State Government may, after taking into consideration the matters specified in Sub-section(3), grant the prospecting licence or mining lease, as the case may be, to such one of the applicants as it may deem fit. (3) The matters referred to in Sub-section (2) are the following: (a) any special knowledge of, or experience in, prospecting operations or mining operations, as the case may be, possessed by the applicant; (b) The financial resources of the applicant; (c) The nature and quality of the technical staff employed or to be employed, by the applicant; (d) Such other matters as may be prescribed. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-section (2) but subject to the provisions of Sub-section (1), the State Government may, for any specified reasons to be recorded by it in writing, grant a prospecting licence or a mining, grant a prospecting licence or a mining lease to an applicant whose application was received later in preference to an applicant whose application was received earlier. Register of prospecting licences and mining leases