Court on Its Own Motion v. Mr Sunil Kumar Barnwal Secretary Deptt of Industries Mines and Geology and Ors.
Case brief
What is this about?
Keywords: Section 21(5) MMDR Act 1957; Section 26(2) delegation by gazette notification; Section 24 royalty; District Mining Officer jurisdiction; demand notice; recovery of price of mineral; mining leases; Jharkhand mining; refund of deposits; 7% per annum interest; eight weeks refund; designated authority; Governor's proceeding dated 02.07.2005; points left open. Summary: Jharkhand High Court (C.J. M.S. Ramachandra Rao with Justice Deepak Roshan, oral judgment dated 04.03.2025) held that absent a gazette-notification delegation under Section 26(2), the District Mining Officer cannot invoke Section 21(5) of the Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 to demand the price of minerals disposed of; demand notices were quashed/set aside and deposits ordered refunded with 7% p.a. interest, with liberty to collect through the designated authority. Petitioners/appellants included Rajhans Refractories Pvt Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd, Usha Martin Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd, Minerals and Minerals Ltd, ACC Ltd, Girish Kumar Popat, Madhusudan Singhania, Padam Kumar Jain and Khatau Liladhar Thacker.