Letter to the President of India - Request to return the MMDR bill 2026 to parliament for reconsideration

Loktantrik Rashtranirman Abhiyan

Smt. Draupadi Murmu
H. E. the President of India
New Delhi

Sub: Request to return the MMDR bill 2026 to parliament for reconsideration.

Esteemed Madam,

Loktantrik Rashtranirman Abhiyan requests Your Excellency to return to the Parliament for reconsideration the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, which is now awaiting your assent.

It is extremely harmful to the federal structure of our polity as envisioned in the Constitution of India. The Central Government has flagrantly violated the federal principles by inserting some clauses that deprive States of their power to tax legitimately the mining and mineral industry. If it were not enough, the Bill, adopted by the parliament, favours uncouth Mining and Mineral companies by forbidding the states from recovering the pending taxes. In this way, the defaulter companies are being given benefit retrospectively.

We give our views in detail:

The insertion of the words “mineral bearing land” in section 2, enormously expands the purpose of the Act of 1957 and severely restricts the state’s powers over the vast stretches of land. These are inhabited areas, and people will face eviction since ‘mineral bearing land’ can be defined in whatever manner. The concerned state government will have no responsibility to settle them elsewhere.

After section 9C of the principal Act (1957 Act), a new section 9D is inserted which states, “ (1) No tax, cess or such other levy (by whatever name called) shall be imposed by the State Government on— (a) mineral rights; or (b) mineral bearing lands, either based on mineral quantity or mineral value or royalty payable or otherwise, except in accordance with such conditions or restrictions as may be prescribed by the Central Government.”

The State governments are being deprived of their right to any mining and minerals related economic activity in their respective areas.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons is nothing but a piece of twisted logic.

Para 2 of the Statement opens with an altruistic claim: “Mineral resources are finite and concentrated in a few States, and their extraction and management have to be guided by long-term national goals of sustainable, equitable and uniform development integrated into the overall strategy of the country’s economic development.”

Then it opens up a little, revealing the main intention behind the Amendment: “Any regional disparity in fiscal impositions on minerals impacts public interest”. Please note the word ‘fiscal imposition’- obviously by the state government.

Then, bears its intention in the open: “Unbalanced imposition of steep taxes and levies will prompt the industry to completely bypass local supply lines, leading to sub-optimal development of markets, increased transportation costs and the resultant pollution load.” How suddenly, all these factors come together to hurt the Indian economy, is not explained. As if, taxes and levies imposed by the states are the main culprit. Can paying taxes result in pollution load?

Further, it makes a laughable claim: “There is also a risk of an increase in imports of minerals despite having sufficient local mineral resources as domestic mineral supply becomes expensive.” As if imported minerals would be cheaper than the locally produced ones, all due to the tax by a state government, which is termed as ‘fiscal imposition.’

The Statement of Objects and Reasons comes out as a saviour of the mining and mineral sector v States. As if the states were enemies of the mining and mineral sector as insertion 9D(2) says:

“(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, or in any judgment, decree or order of any court, the imposition of any such tax, cess or other levy by the State Government on— (a) mineral rights; or (b) mineral bearing lands either based on mineral quantity or mineral value or royalty payable or otherwise, which is not deposited with the State Government or recovered by it before the commencement of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, shall be deemed to be invalid at all material times:

All dues, therefore, that a state could have claimed have vanished in thin air. Mercifully, the government has not provided for the recovery of already deposited taxes and levies by the concerned companies.

It is clear that the Bill has been brought by the government only to nullify the Supreme Court Judgment of 2024. The 9-judge bench allowed the states to impose taxes and levies. There was an attempt to equate royalty to tax but the apex Court rejected the contention. The court allowed the states to recover dues with retrospective effect from 1 April 2005. The companies were to clear the outstanding dues in the next 12 years beginning 1 April 2026. PSUs and Tata Steel, Vedanta and others owed about 1.5 lakh crore to 2.0lakh crore. This huge amount is being wiped off only to benefit the companies.

In view of the above, we stoutly oppose the Bill now awaiting the presidential assent for the following reasons:
In violation of the principles federal structure, it transfers all powers of the states on the land into the hands of the Centre.

It protects defaulters, prevents the recovery of their dues, and, treats states as rogues who loot the poor companies.

At the end, we, therefore, request your Excellency to send the Bill back to the Parliament for reconsideration.
With deep regards

Anand Kumar
August 16, 2026