THE

JHARKHAND GAZETTE

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

23 VAISHAKH 1947 (S)

RANCHI TUESDAY 13TH MAY, 2025

DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND GEOLOGY

--------

NOTIFICATION

9th May,

2025

No.Kha.Ni.(Vividh)-95/2024-1111/M.,--In exercise of the power conferred by

Section-15 of The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957; the

Government of Jharkhand hereby makes the following rules:-

1. SHORT TITLE, EXTENT AND COMMENCEMENT

(i) These rules may be called “Jharkhand Sand Mining Rules, 2025”.

(ii) It extends to the entire State of Jharkhand.

(iii) It shall come in to force from the date of publication of notification in Jharkhand

e-gazette.

2. DEFINITIONS

In this Rules, unless the context otherwise requires:-

(a) “Act” means The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957;

(b) "State" means the State of Jharkhand;

(c) "Government" means the State Government of Jharkhand;

(d) "Department" means the Department of Mines & Geology of the State;

No. 217

2

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

(e) “Director Mines” means Director, Directorate of Mines.

(f) "Deputy Commissioner" means the Deputy Commissioner of the District;

(g) “Additional Director Mines” means Additional Directors of Mines Directorate of

Department.

(h) “Deputy Director Mines” means Deputy Directors of Mines Directorate of

Department.

(i) “District/Assistant Mining Officer/Mining Inspector” means District/Assistant

Mining Officer/Mining Inspector of Mines Directorate of Department.

(j) "Lessee" means the holder of the mining or quarry lease of sand and as defined in

Jharkhand Minor Mineral Concession Rule 2004 as amended.

(k) “Reserve Price” means the base price of auction to be calculated by the District

Committee as per the guidelines issued by the Directorate of Mines.

(l) “Annual Mineral Concessional Value” means final price offer of the preferred

bidder.

(m) “Bid Amount” shall be the final Annual Mineral Concessional Value on the basis

of all necessary statutory clearances like Environmental Clearance etc.

(n) “Person” means the entity under relevant provisions that allows to do business

with all valid certification and eligibility criteria.

(o) “District Survey Report” means A District Survey Report for each mineral and

for each district shall be prepared by the committee constituted as per the

judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in case of CIVIL APPEAL Nos. 3661-

3662 of 2020, The State of Bihar and Others Vrs. Pawan Kumar and Others.

(p) “Earnest Money Deposit” means Earnest Money deposit shall be Ten Percent

(10%) of the reserve price.

(q) “Performance Security” means Performance Security deposit shall be Ten

Percent (10%) of annual mineral concessional value as quoted in the auction

(r) “Preferred Bidder” means the person who shall submit the highest bid amount in

the auction.

(s) “JIMMS” means Jharkhand Integrated Mines and Mineral Management system

under the Department of Mines and Geology.

(t) “Annual Mineable sand quantity” means quantity of sand deposit as per

statutory clearances for the operationalization of sand deposit.

(u) “Mining Plan” means a plan prepared and approved as per the Jharkhand Minor

Mineral Concession Rule 2004 as amended.

(v) "Month" means a calendar month or part there of;

(w) “Year” means Financial Year from first day of April of the year to thirty first

day of March of succeeding year.

(x) "Notification" means a notification as published in the Official Gazette of the

State;

Words and expressions used but not defined in these Rules shall have the same

meanings defined in the Act and all the respective Mineral Act(s) and all the respective

Rules, as assigned to them under all those such Acts; Rules; Notifications or

Regulations made or issued there under.

3

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

3. APPLICABILITY

These rules shall apply to all sand bearing lands/ river stream as mentioned in the

District Survey Report (Sand) of the concerned district.

4. Prohibition and Restriction of Sand Mining:-

Notwithstanding anything contained in the other rules for the time being in force in

relation to the matter connected with sand mining, the excavation of sand is prohibited

without valid mineral concession.

5. Maximum Area for mineral concession for Sand Mining: -

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other rules for the time being in force in

relation to the maximum area of mineral concession of minor mineral, sand mining

lease shall not be granted to a person for an area exceeding one thousand hectares in

the State.

6. PROCESS AND MANAGEMENT OF SAND BEARING LAND AND GHATS

I.

Preparation of District Survey Report: -

The Department shall issue necessary guidelines or directives as and when

required for an effective preparation or updation of District Survey Report.

II.

Categorization of Streams/Rivers: -

a. Identification of the sand available in different order of streams such as 1st,

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th order or more shall be carried out by the District Survey

Committee based on its size and capacity.

b. Based on District Survey Report the Survey Committee shall categorize the

sand in 1st order and 2nd order stream/river as Category-1 and 3rd order and

above as Category-2.

c. Notwithstanding anything mentioned in above sub rule (a) & (b), the sand

available/deposited on any land or excavated during distillation/cleaning of

natural/regulated water streams/bodies shall be categorized as category-2.

d. However, based on recommendation of District Survey Committee and

depending upon local conditions/requirements, the State may review and

change the positioning of a particular order of stream/river into a particular

category of Category-1 or Category-2.

III.

Management of Sand Deposits of Category-1 Streams/Rivers:

a. The sand deposits of Category-1 stream/rivers will be kept fully free from

domain of grant of mining lease.

b. The sand from this category can be used only for non-commercial purposes

such as domestic purpose, Community purposes, Government Sponsored

Schemes etc.

c. Gram Panchayat/Local Self Government shall be responsible for supervision of

sand collection from such area.

d. There shall be no transfer or subletting of the sand deposits from these

Streams/Rivers.

e. The sand from these Streams/Rivers shall be free from any taxes, royalty or

levy.

f. For the purpose of maintenance of the approach road, management,

supervision etc. a nominal Maintenance Charge shall be levied by Gram

Panchayat/Local

Self

Government

per

unit

volume

of

sand

lifted/collected/dispatched, as per the rate decided by Directorate of Mines.

4

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

g. It shall be responsibility of Gram Panchayat/Local Self Government to ensure

that sand from these deposits is not used for any commercial purposes and to

regulate the same, a receipt-cum-dispatch challan will be issued by the Gram

Panchayat/Local Self Government in the format as prescribed by the State.

h. The maintenance charge so collected shall be deposited in the account of

Gram Panchayat/Local Self Government.

i. The

book

keeping of

this account

shall be

maintained

by Gram

Panchayat/Local Self Government according to prevailing rules and guidelines

of the Gram Panchayat/Local Self Government.

j. Under no circumstances the sand shall be allowed to be stored from these

Streams/Rivers.

k. This shall be the responsibility of the Gram Panchayat/Local Self-Government

to restrict sand mining in prohibited areas as directed by the Department.

l. Excavation of sand shall be adhered to Sustainable Sand Mining Management

Guideline-2016 (SSMG-2016), Enforcement & Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining

(EMGSM-2020) and Environment Clearance. Under no circumstances mechanized

lifting/excavation of sand shall be allowed from these category of streams/rivers. In

any case no machinery shall be used to excavate the sand from river/stream of this

category.

m. The Deputy Commissioner shall put in place proper administrative/

enforcement mechanism to ensure no commercial/illegal extraction of sand

from these orders of streams/rivers.

IV.

Auction of Sand Deposits of Category-2 Streams/Rivers: -

a. The sand deposits of Category-2 shall be managed through allocation by

competitive bidding (e-auction).

b. The e-auction shall be conducted by the District Committee as constituted by

the Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Jharkhand under

chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner.

c. Reserve Price of the auction shall be determined by the District Committee as

per the guidelines issued by the Directorate of Mines. After two unsuccessful

attempts of auction the Reserved Price shall be re-determined after due

consideration of all socio, technical and economical aspects.

d. Model Tender Document for e-auction shall be prepared by Directorate of Mines.

V.

Payments:-

a. Bid amount shall be for the period of first year of allocation that will start from

the execution of Lease deed. Bid amount for the second and subsequent year

shall be One Hundred and Ten Percent (110%) of bid amount of the previous

lease year.

b. Earnest Money deposit shall be Ten Percent (10%) of the reserve price, that to be

deposited by the prospective bidder along with their tender document. For

Preferred Bidder Performance Security deposit shall be Ten Percent (10%) of

annual mineral concessional value as quoted in the auction within fifteen

working days of issuance of Letter of Intent (LoI).Performance Security deposit

shall be adjusted in the last/third installment.

c. Initially Annual Mineral Concessional Value shall be calculated as per annual

mineable sand quantity of District Survey Report and finally as per

Environmental Clearance for the first and subsequent Year of lease period,

which

is

termed

as

bid

amount,

that

shall

be

deposited/adjusted

proportionately as per following table: -

5

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

Sl. No.

Installment

Schedule for payment

1

First

Installment

(50%)

a. Before grant of first

permit for the first year.

b. 15th

March

for

Subsequent year.

2

Second

Installment

(25%)

15th October

3

Third

Installment

(25%)

15th January

In case of failure of payment of installments, the generation of e-challan

shall be stopped and it shall be re-opened only after payment of advance

payment of installment

d. Royalty and contribution to the District Mineral Foundation Trust of the sand

deposit shall be payable as per schedule/table mentions in the Rule

6(V)(c),and Income Tax, Environmental Cess, Management Fee, GST, Stamp

Value and Registration Charges etc. shall be paid as per applicable law.

VI.

Period of allocation :-

a. Allocation of the Sand mining lease shall be for a period of five years.

b. Government may extend the period as deemed fit under special circumstances.

c. The sale price of sand must be entered in the JIMMS e-challan.

VII.

Execution of Lease Deed:

a. A grant order shall be issued to the preferred bidder/Letter of Intent holder

after depositing Performance Security.

b. Lease deed in the format as prescribed in Jharkhand Minor Mineral

Concession Rules, 2004 as amended shall be executed after acquiring all

necessary clearances.

VIII.

Surrender of the allocation :-

The lessee may surrender the lease after payment of all installments for that year.

In case of non-payment of all installments of Annual Mineral Concessional value

or bid amount, Royalty and others, the security deposit along with other

payments, if any, shall be forfeited.

IX.

Cancellation of Lease Deed :-

Deputy Commissioner of the district shall premature terminate the lease in case

non-payment of dues for more than ninety days, violation of any contractual

terms or engagement in any illegal sand mining activity.

X.

Online Sand Portal :-

a. All

transactions

(online

and

offline)

and

activities

(Excavation/Storage/Transportation/Sale price declaration etc.) shall be

monitored by Central Electronic Documentation System. Department of

Mines and Geology may nominate any Government Agency or Government

Company for this purpose at a fee.

6

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

b. State Government may use JIMMS or any other system for the purposes as

mentioned in above sub-rule (a).

c. For the Management of Central Electronic Documentation System, the

expenditure incurred shall be compensated by the Department of Mines and

Geology by Management Fee.

7. Rules, Direction/Terms and Conditions to be followed by the lessee: -

All applicable rules, direction and terms & conditions for the operation of sand

ghats or excavation of sand from sand bearing land shall be followed by the lessee.

8. Penalty: -

Provision for action to be taken against the illegal mining, transportation and storage

of sand, shall be invoked as mentioned in The Jharkhand Minerals (Prevention of

illegal mining, transportation and storage) Rules 2017 as amended from time to time.

9. Buffer Stock: -

Sand Lessee shall maintain the buffer stock of sand through dealer licence. For this

purpose, identification of land and subsequent necessary approvals shall be done

by sand lessee. This doesn’t bar the operation of dealer license already issued/to be

issued as per prevailing provisions.

10. Preferential right to the State Government

For the purposes as may be decided by the State Government, for the reasons to be

recorded, the state government shall have preferential right to purchase all or part of

sand available in stockyard/sand bearing land/sand ghats through the Department

of Mines and Geology.

11.Guidelines to be issued by the State Government for desiltation/cleaning

Sand excavated or collected during desiltation/cleaning of any water stream or body

shall be disposed of as per guidelines to be issued by the Department of Mines and

Geology in this regard.

12. Necessary amendments in others Rules: -

To avoid any ambiguity with respect to provisions of others rules effective in this

regard, necessary amendments shall be done in the others relevant rules in due

course

13. Power to rectify apparent mistakes: -

Authority issuing letter/direction shall have opportunity to rectify the apparent

mistake related to calculation error or typographical error as and when its comes or

brought to the knowledge.

14. Power to issue direction and guidelines: -

For effective implementation of these rules Department of Mines and Geology shall

have power to issue guidelines and directions

7

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

15.Validity of Environment clearance: -

In case of lapsing/surrender/premature termination of sand lease, the environment

clearance shall be valid for the rest of the period of its validity. Environment

Clearance and other statutory clearances shall be valid mutatis mutandis for the new

sand lessee.

16. Appeal: -

1.

Any appeal against the order/direction issued by the District Mining Officer in case

of lease of up to 5 Hectare shall be preferred before Concerned Deputy Director,

Mines and in case of lease of more than 5 Hectare shall be preferred before

Additional Director, Ranchi within 90 days of such issuance of order/direction.

Appeal shall be accompanied with a fee of rupees 500 only.

2.

In case of District Mining Officer being the Deputy Director, Mines also of the

concerned circle, appeal shall be preferred before the Additional Director, Ranchi.

The concerned Deputy Director, Mines or Additional Director, Mines, Ranchi may,

for the reasons to be recorded in writing, set-aside or modify the order/direction

against which such appeal is preferred.

17. Revision: -

1. Any revision against the order/direction issued by the Deputy Commissioner shall

be preferred before Mines Commissioner within 90 days of such issuance of

order/direction. Revision shall be accompanied with a fee of rupees 1000 only.

2. Mines Commissioner may, for the reasons to be recorded in writing, set-aside or

modify the order/direction against which such revision is preferred.

18. Over-riding effects of these rules: -

Notwithstanding anything contained in the others rules time being enforced in relation

to the purpose of these rules, these rules shall have the overriding effect over those

rules.

19. Recovery of Demand

An outstanding demandpayable under this rule, after period of thirty days from the

date of determination of demand; providing opportunity of hearing, shall be recovered as

an arrear of land revenue.

20 . Repeal and Saving: -

1. On the commencement of these rules, the Jharkhand Sand Mining Policy 2017

and its subsequent amendments shall cease to be in force except as regards things,

done or omitted to be done before such commencements.

2. On the commencement of these rules, any matter or act to which these rules apply,

any reference to the Jharkhand Sand Mining Policy 2017 in the rules made under

the Act or any other documents shall be deemed to be replace with the Jharkhand

Sand Mining Rules 2025 to that extent, it is not repugnant to the context thereof.

8

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary), Tuesday, 13th May, 2025

3. After the notification of these rules, any earlier executed lease deed/deemed lease

shall be valid till the date of validity of lease deed or as period defined in the order

for deemed lease; subsequently the process of mineral concession shall be adhered

to these rules.

4. On the commencement of these rules, for matter connected with the

period/extension of earlier allocated sand ghats, keeping in view the provisions,

order of Hon’ble Courts if any etc; decision shall be taken by the Department of

Mines and Geology.

By the order of the Governor of Jharkhand,

Arava Rajkamal,

Secretary to the Government

--------

Printed & Published by the Superintendent of Jharkhand Government Press, Doranda, Ranchi.

Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) 217-- 50.