MINES ACT, 1923

CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and commencement
2. Saving the regulation 12 of 1887
3. Definitions

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER II
INSPECTORS
4. Chief Inspector and Inspectors
5. Functions of Inspectors
6. Powers of Inspectors of Mines
7. Powers to special officer to enter, measure, etc
8. Facilities to be afforded to Inspectors
9. Secrecy of information obtained
9-A. Secrecy of source of complaint
Mines Act, 1923
 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER III
MINING BOARD, AND COMMITTEES
10. Mining Board
11. Committees
12. Powers or Mining Board
13. Recovery or expenses

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER IV
MINING OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT OF
MINES
14. Notice before commencement of mining
operations
15. Managers
16. Duties and responsibilities of owners, agents
and managers

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER V
PROVISIONS TO THE HEALTH AND SAFETY
17. Conservancy
17-A. Canteens
17-B. Shelters
18. Medical Appliances
18-A. First-aid rooms
19. Powers or Inspectors when causes of danger not expressly provided against exist or
when employment of person is dangerous
20. Notice to be given of accidents
20-A. Notice or occupational diseases
21. Power of Government to appoint court of inquiry in cases of accidents
22. Publications of reports

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER VI
HOURS AND LIMITATION OF EMPLOYMENT
22-A. Weekly day of rest
22-B. Hours of work above ground
22-C. Hours of work below ground
22-D. Special Provision for night relays
23. Prohibition of employment of certain persons
23-A. Limitations of working hours
23-B. Notice regarding hours of works
23-C. Employment of women
24. Supervising staff
25. Exemption from provisions regarding employment
25-A. Extra wages for overtime
26. Children
26-A. Young persons not to be employed without certificates of fitness
26-B. *****
27. Dispute as to age
28. Register of employees

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
• CHAPTER VI-A
• LEAVE AND HOLIDAYS WITH WAGES
28-A. Application of the Chapter
28-B. Annual leave with wages
28-C. Festival holidays
28-D. Causal leave and sick leave
28-E. Wages during leave or holiday periods
28-F. Payment in advance in certain cases
28-G. Power of Inspector to act for workers
Mines Act, 1923
 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER VII
REGULATIONS, RULES AND BYE-LAWS
29. Power of [appropriate Government] to make regulations
30. Power of [appropriate Government] to make rules
30-A. Power of [appropriate Government] to require rescue
stations to be established
31. Prior publication of regulations and rules
31-A. Power to make regulations without previous publication
32. Bye-laws
33. Posting up of extracts from Act, regulations, etc

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER VIII
PENALTIES AND PROCEDURE
34. Obstruction
35. Falsification of records, etc
36. Omission to furnish plans, etc
37. Contraventions of provisions regarding employment of labour
38. Notice of accidents
39. Disobedience of orders
40. Contravention of law with dangerous results
40-A. Special provision regarding fine
41. Prosecution of owner, agent or manager
42. Limitation of prosecution
43. Cognizance or Offences
44. Reference to Mining Board or Committee in lieu of prosecution in certain cases

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER IX
MISCELLANEOUS
45. Decision of question whether a mine is under this
Act
46. Power to exempt from operation of Act
47. Power of alter or rescind orders
48. Application of Act to [Government] mines
49. Saving
50. [Repeals]
Mines Act, 1923
 MINES ACT, 1923
• ACT NO.IV OF 1923
• 23rd February 1923
An Act to amend and consolidate the law
relating to the regulation and inspection of
mines

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1- Short title, extent and commencement.—
(1) This Act may be called the Mines Act. 1923.
(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan
(3) It shall come into force on the first day of
July, 1924.

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
Definitions.— In this Act, a) “agent” when used in
unless there is anything relation to a mine, means
repugnant in the subject any person appointed or
or context.—- acting as the
representative of the
owner in respect of the
management of the mine
or of any part thereof, and
as such superior to a
manager under this Act.

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
(aa) “Appropriate Government”
means, in relation to mines of
nuclear substances, mineral oil
natural gas and liquids and
substances declared by Federal Law
to be dangerously inflammable,
oilfields and gas fields, the Federal
Government and, in relation to other
mines the Provincial Government;
Mines Act, 1923
 MINES ACT, 1923
(b) “Chief Inspector” means the Chief Inspector
of Mines appointed under this Act;
(c) “child” means a person who has not
completed his fifteenth year;
(cc) “day” means a period of twenty four hours
beginning at midnight;

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
(d) a person is said to be “employed” in
a mine who works under appointment
by or with the knowledge of the
manger, whether for wages or not, in
any mining operation, or in cleaning or
oiling any part of any machinery used in
or about the mine, or in any other kind
of work whatsoever incidental to, or
connected with, mining operations;
Mines Act, 1923
 MINES ACT, 1923
(e) “Inspector” means an
Inspector of Mines appointed
under this Act, and includes a
District Magistrate when
exercising any power or
performing any duty of an
Inspector which he is
empowered by this Act to
exercise or perform

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
“mine” means any excavation where any
operation for the purpose of searching for
or obtaining minerals has been or is being
carried on, and includes all works, machinery,
tramways and sidings, whether above or below
ground, in or adjacent to or belonging to a mine;

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
“Owner”, when used in relation to a mine,
means any person who is the immediate
proprietor or lessee or occupier of the mine
or of any part thereof.
but does not
• include a person who merely receives a
royalty, rent or fine from the mine,
• or is merely the proprietor of the mine
subject to any lease, grant or license for the
working thereof,
• or is merely the owner of the soil and not
interested in the minerals of the mine;

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
“Prescribed” means prescribed by regulations,
rules or bye-laws;

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
“Qualified Medical Practitioner” means any
person registered under any Act of the
Central Legislature or any Provincial Legislature
providing for the maintenance of a register of
medical practitioners, and includes, in any area
where no such last
mentioned Act is in force, any person declared by
the appropriate Government by
notification in the official Gazette, to be a
qualified medical practitioner for the
purposes of this Act

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
“regulations”, “rules” and “bye-laws” means
respectively regulations, rules and bye-laws
made under this Act;

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
where work of the same kind
is carried out by two or more
sets of workers working
during different periods of the
day, each of such sets is called
a ‘relay’ and the period for
which it works is called a
‘shift’

Mines Act, 1923

 MINES ACT, 1923
“serious bodily injury” means any
injury which involves, or in all
probability will involve, the permanent
loss of the use of, or permanent injury
to, any part of the body or the
permanent loss of or injury to the sight
or heating, or the fracture of any part
of the body or the enforced absence of
the injured person from work for a
period exceeding twenty days
Mines Act, 1923
 MINES ACT, 1923
“Week” means the period between midnight on
Saturday night and midnight on the
succeeding Saturday night.

Mines Act, 1923

MINES ACT, 1923

CHAPTER II
INSPECTORS

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Chief Inspector and Inspectors
(1) The appropriate Government may,
by notification in the official Gazette,
appoint a duly qualified person to be
Chief Inspector of Mines for the whole
of Pakistan or for the Province, as the
case may be, and duly qualified persons
to be Inspectors of Mines subordinate
to the Chief Inspector
Mines Act, 1923
CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Chief Inspector and Inspectors
(2) No person shall be appointed to the Chief
Inspector or an Inspector, or having been
appointed shall continue to hold such office who
is or becomes directly or indirectly interested in
any mine or mining rights in Pakistan.

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Chief Inspector and Inspectors
(3) The District Magistrate may exercise
the powers and perform the duties of an
Inspector subject to the general or special
orders of the appropriate Government;
Provided that nothing in this sub-section
shall be deemed to empower a District
Magistrate to exercise any of the powers
conferred by section 19 or section 32.

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Chief Inspector and Inspectors
(4) The Chief Inspectors and
every Inspector shall be
deemed to be a public servant
within the meaning of the
Pakistan Penal Code.

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Functions of Inspectors
(1) The Chief Inspector may, by order in
writing, prohibit or restrict the exercise by any
Inspector named, or any class of Inspectors
specified, in the order of any power conferred
on the Inspectors by this Act, and shall,
subject as aforesaid, declare the local area or
areas within which, or the group or class of
mines with respect to which, Inspectors shall
exercise their respective powers

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Functions of Inspectors
(2) The Inspector shall give information
to owners, agents and managers of
mines, situate within the local area or
areas or belonging to the group or class
of mines, in respect of which he exercises
powers under sub-section (1) as to all
regulation and rules which concern them
respectively and as to the places where
copies of such regulations and rules may
be obtained.

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Powers of Inspectors of Mines.
(a) make such examination and inquiry
as he thinks fit in order to ascertain
whether the provisions of this Act and of
the regulation, rules and bye-laws and of
any orders made thereunder are
observed in the case of any mine;
(b) with such assistance (if any) as he
thinks fit, enter, inspect and examine any
mine or any part thereof

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Powers of Inspectors of Mines.
(c) examine into, and make inquiry respecting,
the state and condition of any mine or any part
thereof, the ventilation of the mine, the
sufficiency of the bye-laws for the time being in
force relating to the mine, and all matters and
things connected with or relating to the safety
health and welfare of the persons employed in
the mine.
Mines Act, 1923
CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Powers of Inspectors of Mines.
(d) take, whether on the precincts (confines) of
the mine or elsewhere, statement of any person
which he may consider necessary for carrying
out the purposes of this Act;
Provided that no one shall be required under
this section to answer or give any
evidence tending to criminate himself;

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Powers of Inspectors of Mines.
(e) require the production of any books, registers
or other documents, the keeping of
which is prescribed, in order to see that they are
in conformity with the provisions of this Act and
rules and regulations framed thereunder and take
into his custody, or make copies of, or extracts
from any such book register or other document

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Powers of Inspectors of Mines.
(f) after informing the manager of a mine or his
representative, take or remove, for the purpose
of analysis samples of materials and substances
used or handled in the mine;

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Powers of special officer to enter, measure etc.—
Any person in the service of the State duly authorized, by a special
order in writing of the Chief Inspector or of an Inspector in this
behalf may, for the purpose of surveying, leveling or measuring in
any mine, after giving not less than three days’ notice to the
manager of such mine, enter the mine and may survey, level or
measure the mine or any part thereof at any reasonable time by
day or night, but not so as unreasonably to impede or obstruct the
working of the mine;
Provided that no such notice need be given if, for reasons to be
recorded, the Chief Inspector or Inspector is of opinion that there
is an emergency

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Facilities to be afforded to inspectors.—
Every owner, agent and manager of a mine shall
afford the Chief Inspector and every Inspector
and every person authorized under section 7 all
reasonable facilities for making any entry;
inspector, survey, measurement, examination or
inquiry under this Act

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Secrecy of Information obtained
(1) All copies of and extracts from, registers or other records
appertaining to any mine, and all other information acquired by the
Chief Inspector or an Inspector or by any one assisting him, in the
course of the inspection of any mine under this Act or acquired by any
person authorized under section 7 in the exercise of his duties
thereunder, shall be regarded as confidential and shall not be
disclosed to any person other than a Magistrate or a Commissioner for
Workmen’s Compensation appointed under this Workmen’s
Compensation Act, 1923, or an official superior or the owner, agent or
manager of the mine concerned unless the Chief Inspector or the
Inspector considers disclosure necessary to ensure the safety of any
persons

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Secrecy of Information obtained
(2) If the Chief Inspector, or an Inspector or any
other person referred to in sub-section(1)
disclose contrary to the provisions of sub-section
(1), any such information as aforesaid without the
consent of the appropriate Government, he shall
be guilty of a breach of official trust, and shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which
may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both
Mines Act, 1923
CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Secrecy of Information obtained
(3) No court shall proceed to the trial of any
offence under this section 35except with
the previous sanction of the 36appropriate
Government.

Mines Act, 1923

CHAPTER II INSPECTORS
Secrecy of source of complaint
The Chief Inspector or an Inspector shall treat as
absolutely confidential the source of any
complaint bringing to his notice a defect or breach
of any provision of this Act or any rules or
regulations made thereunder and shall not give
any intimation to the owner of the mine or his
representative that a visit of inspection was made
in consequence of the receipt of such a complaint.
Mines Act, 1923
Thank you