4.
| (1) Subject to the other provisions of this sec-tion, any person authorized by the Minister In that behalf may on producing, if so required, a document signed by the Minister and showing that such person is so authorized, do on, over or below the surface of any land such work as the Minister considers necessary for the purpose of discovering whether there is present in or on the land any minerals from which in the opinion of such person any prescribed substance can-be obtained, and the extent to which any such mineral is so present. |
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| (2) Before any powers are exercised under sub-section (1) in relation to any land, the Minister shall cause to be served on every owner, lessee and occupier of the land a written notice specifying the nature of the work proposed to be done and the time, not being less than twenty-eight days, within which and the manner in which objections can be made thereto, and no such power shall be exercised otherwise than in pursuance of the notice or before the expiry of the time prescribed therein for making objections. |
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| (3) If any person on whom a notice under sub-section (2) is served makes an objection and does not withdraw it, the Minister shall, before the person authorized in that behalf by the Minister under sub-section (1) exercises any powers under that sub-section, afford an opportunity to the person making the objection of appearing before and being heard by a person appointed by the Minister for the purpose and, if the person making the objection avails himself of that opportunity, the Minister may afford to any other person, to whom it appears to the Minister expedient to afford it, an opportunity of appearing and being heard on the same occasion. |
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| (4) The Minister may, after considering the objections, if any, made by any of the persons on whom a notice under sub-section (2) is served and the report made on such objections by the person appointed under sub-section (3), cause to be served on the persons on whom that notice was served a further written notice withdrawing or confirming the original notice, or modifying the terms thereof, and, in the case of modification, no power shall be exercised under sub-section (1) otherwise than in pursuance of the original notice as so modified. |
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| (5) The powers conferred by sub-section (1) shall be deemed to include the power to remove any work constructed or other thing placed on, over or below the surface of the land in the course of the exercise of those powers, and to do such work as the Minister or any person authorized in that behalf by the Minister thinks fit for the purpose of restoring the land wholly or partly to the condition in which it would have been but for the exercise of those powers. |
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| (6) For the purpose of exercising the powers conferred by the preceding provisions of this section, any person authorized in that behalf by the Minister may pass, with or without animals or vehicles, over any land. |
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| (7) If any person wilfully obstructs or interferes with the exercise of powers under this section, he shall be guilty of an offence. |
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| (8) Compensation shall be determined and paid by the Minister in accordance with the First Schedule to this Act in respect of any land on which powers under this section are exercised. |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts