RTI for Gujarat Commissionerate of Geology and Mining — Lignite, Limestone Lease, Royalty and DMF Fund Records

Gujarat's mining sector is among the most economically significant in the country, anchored by a geological profile unmatched in range and commercial value in peninsular India. The state produces more lignite than any other state in India, holds India's largest reserves of fluorspar, contributes substantially to national limestone, bentonite, calcite, and silica sand output, and has an active minor minerals sector spanning river sand, stone aggregates, and coastal dune sand. The Commissionerate of Geology and Mining (CGM), headquartered at Gandhinagar, and its network of District Mining Offices are the state authorities responsible for administering mining leases, collecting royalty under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act), enforcing mineral extraction laws, and overseeing the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) — the statutory fund set up to benefit communities in mining-affected areas. For citizens, farmers, environmental activists, journalists, and affected communities in Gujarat's mining districts, the Right to Information Act, 2005 is the most powerful legal tool to access the records held by these offices.

The CGM and every District Mining Officer in Gujarat are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005. They are bound to provide information within 30 days of a valid RTI application. All lease records, royalty calculations, inspection reports, enforcement files, illegal quarrying ATRs, and DMF accounts are in principle accessible — subject only to the narrow exemptions in Section 8 of the Act, none of which would normally cover routine mining administration records.

Gujarat's Mining Landscape: Districts, Minerals, and Stakes

Understanding where Gujarat's mineral wealth is concentrated helps in identifying the correct authority for your RTI application and framing specific, targeted questions.

Lignite: India's Largest Producer

Gujarat holds the largest lignite reserves in India. The deposits occur in three main belts:

Kutch / Kachchh district: The Panandhro, Umarsar, and Tadkeshwar lignite fields in Kutch are the most significant, operated primarily by the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC). The Panandhro mine alone is one of India's largest open-cast lignite mines. Kutch lignite is used to fuel the Akrimota and other GMDC thermal power plants in the district.

Bhavnagar district: The Rajpardi lignite deposit (also known as the South Gujarat lignite belt extending into Surat and Bharuch districts) supports power generation and industrial heat applications.

Surendranagar district: Smaller lignite occurrences exist in parts of Surendranagar.

GMDC (Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation) — a state-owned company — operates many of the major lignite mines directly. RTI can be filed with the CGM for lease and royalty records relating to GMDC and private lessee operations alike.

Limestone: The Cement Industry's Backbone

The limestone belt running through Bhavnagar, Amreli, and Junagadh districts fuels one of the largest cement manufacturing concentrations in India. Companies such as Ultratech Cement, Ambuja Cement (now part of Adani Group), and others hold mining leases for limestone in this belt. The quality of limestone in these districts — low silica, moderate calcium carbonate content — makes it suitable for ordinary Portland cement production. Royalty from limestone is a significant revenue stream for the state government.

Bentonite and Fuller's Earth: Kutch as a Global Supplier

Kutch district is home to bentonite and fuller's earth deposits of significant quality and scale. Gujarat's bentonite — particularly from the Bhuj-Mundra belt — is exported to the oil drilling, foundry, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries internationally. This makes bentonite lease records and export-linked royalty data particularly relevant for trade and environmental researchers.

Fluorspar: India's Largest Reserves

Surendranagar district holds India's largest known fluorspar (fluorite — CaF₂) reserves. Fluorspar is an essential industrial mineral used as a flux in steel and aluminium manufacturing and as a feedstock for fluorochemical production. The fluorochemicals industry in Gujarat (notably around Dahej in Bharuch district) uses acid-grade fluorspar. Lease records and royalty data for Surendranagar's fluorspar operations are important for understanding this mineral supply chain.

Silica Sand, Calcite, and Minor Minerals

Coastal Saurashtra and parts of Surendranagar produce silica sand for glass manufacturing. Calcite deposits are found in parts of Rajkot and Surendranagar. River bed sand, stone aggregates, and moorum from the Saurashtra rivers (Bhadar, Shetrunji, Machhu, Sabarmati tributaries) constitute the minor mineral sector — one of the most contested in terms of illegal quarrying.

Sand Dune and Coastal Sand Mining

Coastal Saurashtra — particularly in Amreli, Bhavnagar, and Rajkot districts — has active dune sand mining. The removal of coastal sand dunes has significant ecological consequences, including shoreline erosion and destruction of coastal habitat. District Mining Officers' files for these districts frequently contain complaints about illegal coastal sand extraction that have not been acted upon.

What RTI Can Reveal About Gujarat Mining

Mining Lease Records

The core document of the mining administration is the mining lease deed. RTI can compel the CGM or District Mining Officer to disclose:

• The complete lease deed or certified extract for a specific mine, showing the lessee's name, lease area (in hectares), the mineral(s) covered, the lease period and its expiry, and all conditions (including environmental safeguards, land restoration obligations, and royalty payment terms)
• Whether the lease is currently valid, under renewal, or has been cancelled — and if cancelled, the order and grounds
• Whether the lease has been transferred to a new lessee under Section 12A of the MMDR Act, and on what terms
• The list of all valid mining leases for a specific mineral in a given district or taluka — this is a legitimate aggregated query that allows citizens to identify which operators are legally authorised and which extraction activity is illegal

Royalty Payment Data

Royalty paid by lessees on mineral extraction is a public revenue — it belongs to the Government of Gujarat and funds public expenditure. There is no legitimate ground to withhold royalty data under Section 8 of the RTI Act:

• The quantity of mineral extracted (metric tonnes or cubic metres) as declared by the lessee and as assessed by the Mining Department
• The applicable royalty rate under the MMDR Act's Second Schedule (or as notified under the Gujarat Mineral Concession Rules for minor minerals)
• The total royalty assessed, the amount paid, and the dates of payment
• Any outstanding arrears, demand notices, or recovery proceedings
• Whether the lessee's production declarations were verified through independent measurement by the Mining Officer, and if discrepancies were found

Illegal Quarrying and Sand Mining Complaint ATRs

Complaints about illegal mineral extraction are one of the highest-volume categories of mining administration records held by District Mining Officers. RTI can extract:

• The ATR on a specific complaint — what was found on inspection, whether illegal activity was confirmed, what action was taken
• Seizure records — vehicles, excavators, extraction equipment, and extracted mineral quantity seized under the Gujarat Mineral (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules
• FIRs registered and prosecution status under Section 21 of the MMDR Act
• Penalty orders and the amounts recovered
• Whether the complaint is pending without action, and for how long

This category of RTI is particularly powerful for communities near rivers in Saurashtra and Kutch, where unregulated sand extraction depletes river sediment, affects groundwater recharge, damages irrigation infrastructure, and destroys aquatic habitat.

Mine Inspection Reports

The District Mining Officer and CGM inspectors are required to periodically inspect operating mines to verify compliance with lease conditions. These inspection reports — which record whether environmental conditions are being followed, whether the excavation is within the leased boundary, whether mining has proceeded in accordance with the approved mining plan, and whether restoration and reclamation of mined-out areas is progressing as required — are internal government documents subject to RTI. The inspection report names the officer, the date, the findings, and any directions issued. Comparing successive inspection reports for a mine over several years reveals whether compliance conditions are genuinely enforced or merely recorded on paper.

District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Fund Utilisation

The DMF is one of the most important mining governance reforms of the past decade, and also one of the most opaque in practice. Under Section 9B of the MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015, mine lessees must contribute a percentage of their royalty payment into the DMF of the district where the mine is located. These funds are intended exclusively for the welfare and livelihood restoration of communities living in the vicinity of mining operations.

In Gujarat's major mining districts — Kutch, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Surendranagar, and Rajkot — DMF trusts have accumulated significant funds. RTI is the citizen's window into how this money is being spent:

• Total DMF corpus accumulated (year-wise and cumulative)
• Project-wise sanctioned expenditure under PMKKKY — whether the 60% minimum on high-priority areas (drinking water, healthcare, education, environmental restoration) is being maintained
• Whether expenditure is actually reaching communities in the mining-affected villages, or is being channelled to urban infrastructure or non-mining areas
• Governing Council and Management Committee meeting minutes — these show who takes spending decisions and whether affected communities have any voice in the process
• Unspent balances and reasons for non-utilisation

DMF records are held primarily by the district Collectorate (the District Collector chairs the DMF Governing Council) and, for aggregate state-level data, by the CGM at Gandhinagar. RTI applications for DMF information should therefore go to both the Collectorate of the relevant mining district and to the CGM's CPIO if statewide data is needed.

Where to File Your RTI Application

Commissionerate of Geology and Mining, Gandhinagar

For matters involving the CGM's own decisions — statewide policy records, lease grants at the Commissioner's level, appeals decided at the CGM's office, statewide royalty statistics, and aggregate DMF data — address the application to:

CPIO, Commissionerate of Geology and Mining, Sector 10A, Gandhinagar – 382010, Gujarat

District Mining Officer

For records specific to a district — a particular mine's lease deed, inspection reports for that mine, ATRs on complaints filed in that district, royalty records at the district level — file with the CPIO at the District Mining Officer's office in the relevant district headquarters.

Gujarat has District Mining Offices in all major districts including Kutch (Bhuj), Bhavnagar, Amreli, Junagadh, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, and others.

District Collectorate (for DMF)

For DMF utilisation records, project-wise expenditure, and Governing Council minutes, file with the SPIO at the Collectorate of the relevant mining district, with a copy to the CGM's CPIO if statewide data is sought.

If you are unsure whether records are held by the CGM's office or the District Mining Officer's office, file with the CGM at Gandhinagar. Under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act, an SPIO who receives an application about records held by another public authority must transfer it within five days — the 30-day response clock continues from the date of receipt at the correct office.

How to File: Online, by Post, or in Person

Online via rtionline.gov.in: The Central Government's RTI portal is open for applications to Gujarat state government bodies as well, or you may use the Gujarat state portal at rtionline.gujarat.gov.in. Pay the ₹10 fee online. Track your application using the registration number.

By registered post: Send to the SPIO at CGM Gandhinagar or the relevant District Mining Office. Enclose a crossed Indian Postal Order for ₹10 in favour of the Accounts Officer of the relevant office. BPL cardholders are exempt — attach a self-attested copy of the BPL ration card. Retain the postal receipt.

In person: Submit at the CGM's or District Mining Office's counter during office hours. Obtain a written acknowledgement with the date and the name of the receiving officer.

Appeals

First Appeal — Section 19(1): If the SPIO does not respond within 30 days, or the response is incomplete or constitutes an unjustified refusal, file a First Appeal with the designated First Appellate Authority (FAA) within 30 days of the date of decision or expiry of the 30-day response period, whichever is applicable. No fee is payable on a First Appeal. Attach your original RTI application, proof of delivery, and the SPIO's response if any. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45 days with recorded reasons.

Second Appeal — Section 19(3): If the FAA also fails to respond or the response remains unsatisfactory, file a Second Appeal with the Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act within 90 days of the FAA's decision or the expiry of the FAA's response period. The GIC — not the Central Information Commission (CIC) — is the competent body: the CGM and all District Mining Officers are offices of the Government of Gujarat, not Central Government bodies, and the GIC is the Information Commission established for Gujarat state public authorities under Section 15 of the RTI Act.

Penalty — Section 20: The GIC may impose a penalty of ₹250 per day (up to ₹25,000) on the defaulting SPIO personally for unjustified delay or refusal, and may recommend departmental action. When filing your Second Appeal, explicitly request the GIC to consider imposing the Section 20 penalty if the delay or refusal was without reasonable cause.

Gujarat's mineral wealth generates revenues, employment, and industrial value — but it also generates dust, noise, groundwater depletion, river degradation, displacement, and community grievances that too often go unaddressed behind a wall of administrative silence. The RTI Act is the legal instrument that breaks through that silence. A well-drafted RTI to the CGM or a District Mining Officer, targeting specific lease records, royalty data, inspection reports, or DMF accounts, can produce the documented evidence that communities, journalists, lawyers, and researchers need to hold the mining administration accountable to the law.