Meghalaya Minerals Cess Act, 1988 (Act No. 7 of 1988).

This Act provides for the levy and collection of cess on some minerals of the State for the development of Primary education and for development and improvement of mining areas and for related matters. It establishes that there shall be levied and collected as cess a tax on coal, silliminate, limestone and fire-clay from any person who extracts or removes the minerals from any mine or quarry in the State. The rate of the cess to be levied and collected shall be, in the case of: a) coal, rupees ten per matric tonne; b) sillimanite, rupees ten per matric tonne; c) limestone, rupees two and paise eighty per matric tonne; and d) fire clay, rupees one and paise twenty-five per matric tonne.
The Act prohibits the undertaking of prospecting or mining operations except under the terms and conditions of a prospecting or mining licence. Restrictions on the grant of licences are given in the Act.
The Act also lays down procedures for obtaining prospecting licences and mining leases in respect of land in which minerals are vested in the government.