In reply the appellants herein submitted inter alia that the demands were lawful, that the combined effect of sec tions 9 and 29 of the 1957 Act read with Second Schedule thereto and the Mineral Concession Rules, 1949 was that the respondents who were lessees or sub lessees were liable to pay royalty at the rate of 5% of F.O.R. price of coal from the date of vesting of the respective estates of the pro prietors who had granted head leases in the State of Bihar for the entire period in question; that section 9(1) of the 1957 Act was very comprehensive and applied to all leases whether contractual or statutory which came into existence before the 1957 Act was brought into operation; that section 30A of the 1957 Act applied only to leases in respect of coal which had been granted before October 25, 1949 and not to the new statutory mining leases of the respondents deemed to have been granted by the State Government before the coming into operation of the 1957 Act under the provisions of section 10 of the Bihar Land Reforms Act; and that the provisions of section 9(1) of the could not be taken to have been suspended by section 30A of the Act so far as the leases in question were concerned.