ition Nos 112 115 175 297 194 198 489 90 459 215 2 3 and 43280 1477 of 1979 1516B 151779
Under Article 32 of the Constitution AND SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION CIVIL No 2746 of 1980
From the judgment and order dated the 11th February 1980 of the High Court of Calcutta in Appeal from an order No Nil of 1980
A K Srivastava for the Petitioners in WP Nos 213 and 17580
H K Puri for the Petitioners in WP Nos
1516 1517 147779 and 2 3 of 1980
M P Jha for the Petitioners in WP No 29780
Dr Y section Chitale B P Singh and Naresh K Sharma for the Petitioners in WPs Nos 112 11580
P R Mridul and D P Mukherjee for the Petitioners in WPs 489 490 and 432 of 1980
A K Sen section K Sinha and C K Ratnaparkhi for the Petitioners in WPs
194 19880
Dr Y S Chitale G section Chatterjee and D P Mukherjee for the Petitioners in SLP No 2746 of 1980
section K Jain for the Petitioners in WP No 43980
M K Banerjee Addl
and Miss A Subhashini for the Respondent No 3 in WP Nos
112 115 17580
Lal Narain Sinha Att
and U P Singh for the Respondent State of Bihar and Its official in WP Nos
112 11580 147779 175 213 2 3 459 489 9080 and SLP No 274680
M K Banerjee Addl
and section B Sinha and D P Mukherjee for the Respondent No 9 in WPs 112 115 of 1980
Rathin Das for the Respondents State of West Bengal in WPs
1516 151779
section section Jauhar for the Interveners in WP No 17580
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J
We have a hunch we leave it at that that these Workers writ petitions arc a kind of litigative puppetry
597 the illicit mine exploiters being the puppeteers
This set of writ petitions where some private management claim to have the right to extract coking coal on the score that prohibition enacted in the Coal Mines Nationalisation Amendment Act 1976 does not affect or operate on coking coal mines must be dismissed as devoid of deserts
The short point sharply focussed by Dr Chitale and echoed with some variant notes by other counsel in support of these writ petitions may be briefly stated thus
According to him the history of coal nationalisation legislation in this country in the seventies of this century shows that Parliament has treated coal and coking coal separately for legislative purposes in regard to taking over of management nationalisation of ownership and the like
It all began with the year 1971 when Parliament enacted the hereinafter called the 1971 Act for short
It took over management of coking coal mines
Iron and Steel are key industries requiring importantly coking coal for their very survival
When Parliament found that coking coal was not being made available properly to the Industry on account of the unsatisfactory con duct of the private sector operating in this field the entire management of coking coal mines
was taken over on an emergency footing in the public interest be the 1971 Act
Thereafter with more deliberation and detailed investigation the management of coking coal mines and of other coal mines was taken over by appropriate legislation
Still later after mature planning and understanding of implications Parliament enacted legislation for vesting of ownership of coking coal Mines and eventually of all coal mines
The Management of coking coal was taken over by the Central Government under 
The management of all other coal mines was taken over by the Central Government under the Coal Mines Taking over of Management Act 1973
The second step after management came under the control of the Central Government was the actual nationalisation of ownership itself
This state of planning led to Parliamentary enactments of 36 of 1972 and the 26 of 1973
The sequence of events shows the evolution of national policy in this regard
Coking coal being absolutely essential was first taken over urgently
Later on the entire coal industry came under Parliamentary consideration and management thereof was taken over
Finally the ownership of all coal mines including coking coal mines was vested in the Central Government and in certain instrumentalities created by Central Government
Thus we see that the comprehensive plan behind coal nationalisation did not permit of private agencies operating in the field
Coking coal was 19 289 SCI80 598 more strategic than ordinary coal having regard to its use for iron and steel industries
Nevertheless it was found as a fact that on account of these mines being located in remote places and in jungles especially in the State of Bihar and Bengal the Central Government wanted to take effective steps to put an end to clandestine mining by any private agency
The jungle of laws haphazardly enacted partly helped the privateers get round the law and clandestinely or even through court receivers extract coal as there was big money in it
Therefore the 1976 Act was enacted to plug all loopholes virtually banish the private sector and to ensure legal success for Project Public Sector in the field of coal mining
Section 33 of the 1976 Act reads thus 33 on and from the commencement of section 3 of the Coal Mines Nationalisation Amendment Act
1976 i the Central Government or a Government company or a corporation owned managed or controlled by the Central Government or ii a person to whom a sub lease referred to in the proviso to clause c has been granted by any such Government company or Corporation or iii a company engaged in the production of iron and steel shall carry on coal mining operation in India in any form b excepting the mining leases granted before such commencement in favour of the Government company or corporation referred to in clausea and any sub lease granted by any such Government company or corporation all other mining leases and sub leases in force immediately before such commencement shall in so far as they relate to the winning or mining of coal stand terminated c no lease for winning or mining coal shall be granted in favour of any person other than the Government company or corporation referred to in clausea Section 4 of the same Act super adds severe punishment for contravention of the prohibition contained in section 33
The total effect thus is clear
The Parliament wanted to prevent the mischief of coal P mining and other illicit extraction of coal to the national detriment
Scratching slaughter mining and such like activities on the sly were regarded as defeating the nationalisation scheme
599 Counsel for the petitioners contended that the legislative history A was relevant to the interpretation of section 33 of the 1976 Act
In his submission the amendment brought about in 1976 incorporating total interdict of mining applied only in relation to coal mines and not in relation to coking coal mine
For this argument he sought sustenance from the existence of two sets of legislation dealing with coal mines and coking coal mines throughout the 1970s
He further pointed out that even as late as 1978 when amendments were contemplated in regard to coal mines  and coking coal mines  nationalisation there were separate provisions separately inserted in both the nationalisation measures
He cited the 1978 Act as illustrative even decisive
The absence of any mention of coking coal mines in the 1976 Act was in his submission conclusive of the parliamentary intent in his favour especially when read in the light of the history of the package of nationalisation legislations
We are far from satisfied that there is substance in this submission
History may illumine but cannot imprison interpretation
It is true that in 1971 when Parliament was faced with a crisis regarding need for coking coal in iron and steel industries a legislation on an emergency footing was made solely confined to coking coal mines
As we have earlier explained the plan of the nation in regard to these natural resources was then embryonic and later final and there was step by step legislation to implement the policy on a phased programme
The culmination came in the blanket ban of 1976
We are concerned here with the interpretation of section 33 which we reproduce again for facility of reference at this state 33 on and from the commencement of section 3 of the Coal Mines Nationalisation Amendment Act 1976 a no person other than i the Central Government or a Government company or a corporation owned managed or controlled by the Central Government
Or G ii a person to whom a sub lease referred to in the proviso to clause c has been granted by any such Government company or corporation or iii a company engaged in the production of iron and steel shall carry on coal mining operation in India in any form 
600 b excepting the mining leases granted before such commencement in favour of the Government company or corporation referred to in clause a and any sub lease granted by any such Government company or corporation all other mining leases and sub leases in force immediately before such commencement shall in so far as they relate to the winning or mining of coal
stand terminated c no lease for winning or mining coal shall be granted in favour of any person other than the Government company or corporation referred to in clause a Provided that the Government company or corporation to whom a lease for winning or mining coal has been granted may grant a sub lease to any person in any area on such terms and conditions as may be specified in the instrument granting the sub lease if the Government company or corporation is satisfied that i the reserves of coal in the area are in isolated small pockets or are not sufficient for scientific and economical development in a coordinated and integrated manner and ii the coal produced by sub lessee will not be required to be transported by rail
The short question of statutory construction turns on the meaning to be assigned to the expression no person other than the Central Government or a Government company or a corporation owned managed or controlled by the Central Government shall carry on coal mining operations in India in any form
The expression is semantically sweeping and is wide in meaning so as to spare no class of coal including even coking coal because coking coal is a species of coal coal itself being the genus
What is more there is a definition of coal mine  in the Coal mines Nationalisation Act 1973
Section 2b of the 1973 Act defines coal mine to mean a mine in which there exists one or more seams of coal
It is apparent that even a coking coal mine is a coal mine because the definition is broad
It is inarguable that coking coal is not coal
This conclusion is reinforced by looking at the definition of coking coal mine in section 3c of the 
Section 3c reads thus coking coal mine means a coal mine in which there exists one or more seams of coking coal whether exclusively or in addition to any seam of other coal
601 Indeed it is irrefutable viewed literally lexically semantically teleologically or applying the rule in Heydon s case that coking coal mine is a coal mine
If it is a coal mine it is covered by the 1976 Act
Coking coal is more precious strategically speaking than other forms of coal and it would be an error nay a blunder to prevent private extraction of common coal and to permit removal of coking coal
It would be pathetic and bathetic for any policy maker to be so egregious
Parliament may err but not be absurd  So construed it is obvious that coking coal which is more importantly needed for the nation than other supplies of coal must be the last to be squandered away by permitting it to be privately exploited
We have no hesitation in holding that coal mine  in the 1976 Act includes coking coal mine and section 33 of that Act clamps down the ban on extraction of coking coal also
lt was feebly submitted that some of the mines may have fire clay layers to reach which the mining operation may have to pass through coal seams and therefore such operation cannot be prohibited
We are not impressed with this argument at all
Even assuming there is fire clay or other layer somewhere in the bowels of the earth the statutory mandate is that once you come up on a coal seam you shall stop extracting it to proceed beyond
Maybe some injury may be caused fancied or real but it is permissible for Parliament to make provision to prevent evasion of the purpose of the statute by prohibition of mining other minerals which may incidentally defeat the coal nationalisation measure
In this view we find no merit in any of the writ petitions and dismiss them all with costs
It has been mentioned on more than one occasion in this court that interlocutory orders have been sought and obtained that Receivers have been appointed by other courts and that they have been working these mines
In the face of the statutory prohibition which is imperative in tone and all embracing in language even punishable for violation it is surprising that any Receiver could at all dare to work mines without running a grave risk
The court cannot sanction the commission of a crime
We make it perfectly plain that there will be no more authorisation for any receiver or other officer of court to extract coal or coking coal from any mine in India
Section 33 of the 1976 Act being all inclusive and having been constitutionally upheld by thus Court it is no longer permissible for any court in India n 602 to appoint a receiver for or otherwise permit extraction of coal or coking coal
These observations and reasonings must converge to only one conclusion that the crowd of writ petitions deserve to be and are hereby dismissed of course with costs
We would conclude with a conscientious query will the State keep the coal mafia out break the coal racket where government agencies are suspect and demonstrate that the court having come to the aid of the Executive nationalisation will fulfil the targets and tide over the crisis  Caesar s wife must be above suspicion
SR Petitions dismissed


Summary:
Dismissing the petitions the Court  HELD 1
Coal Mine in the 1976 Act includes coking coal mine and section 33 of that Act clamps down the ban on extraction of Coking Coal also 601B C History may illumine but cannot imprison interpretation
It is true that in 1971 when Parliament was faced with a crisis regarding need for coking coal in iron and steel industries on an emergency footing was made solely confined to coking coal mines
The plan of the nation in regard to these natural resources was then embryonic and later final and there was step by step legislation to implement the policy on a phased programme
The culmination came in the blanket ban of 1976
599D E The expression in Section 33 is semantically sweeping and is wide in meaning so as to spare no class of coal including even coking coal because coking coal is a species of coal coal itself being the genus
Section 2b of the 1973 Act defines coal mine to mean a mine in which there exists one or more seams of coal
Even a coking coal mine is a coal mine because the definition is broad and this is clear from the definition of coking coal mine in Section 3c of the 
600E G Coking coal is more precious strategically speaking than other forms of coal and it would be an error nay a blunder to prevent private extraction of common coal and to permit removal of coking coal
It would be pathetic and bathetic for any policy maker to be so egregious
Parliament may err but not be absurd So construed it is obvious that coking coal which is more importantly needed for the nation than other supplies of coal must be the last to be squandered away by permitting it to be privately exploited
601A B 3
Even assuming there is a fire clay or other layer somewhere in the bowels of the earth tho statutory mandatory is that once you come up on a coal seem you shall stop extracting it to proceed beyond
May be some injury may be caused fancied or real but it is permissible for Parliament to make provision to prevent evasion of the purpose of the statute by prohibition of mining other minerals which may incidentally defeat tho coal nationalisation measure
601D F 596 4
Section 33 of the 1976 Act being all inclusive and having been constitutionally upheld it is no longer permissible for any Court In India to appoint a receiver for or otherwise permit extraction of coal or coking coal
The Court cannot sanction the commission of a crime
601G H 602A