Federation Of Indian Mineral ... vs Union Of India

2. On 12th January, 2015 the President promulgated an Ordinance making several amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (for short ‗the MMDR Act‘). We are concerned with only a few of these amendments which are detailed below:

2. Amount of contribution to be made to District Mineral Foundation.—Every holder of a mining lease or a prospecting licence-cum-mining lease shall, in addition to the royalty, pay to the District Mineral Foundation of the district in which the mining operations are carried on, an amount at the rate of —

19. In any event, even assuming that since the DMFs were established from a date anterior to the date of the notification and therefore they were established with retrospective effect, their establishment did not adversely affect anybody‘s vested rights (as will be seen later). This is crucial. Therefore there can be no real objection to the operation of the notifications from 12th January, 2015 in view of the decision in Musaliar. The DMFs were not established from a date prior to 12th January, 2015 and to that extent cannot be said to have been established with retrospective effect.

29. After the above observations, this Court primarily dealt with the absence of specifying the single point at which the tax might be levied and held that the prerequisite of Section 15 of the CST Act that the tax shall not be levied at more than one stage had not been satisfied. Therefore, it quashed the assessment complained of and allowed the appeal of the assessee.

third of the royalty, satisfies the requirements of law. What is required by the law is certainty and not vagueness – not exceeding one-third could mean one-fourth or one-fifth or some other fraction. It is this uncertainty that is objectionable.

33. Therefore, our answer to the second question is that the petitioners are not liable to make any contribution to the DMF from 12 th January, 2015.

Crucial date for making the contribution to the DMF

Lease holders for minerals other than coal, lignite and sand for stowing

41. We hold, therefore, that the effective date of payment of contribution to the DMF in the case of those petitioners who are (or were) holders of a mining lease or a prospecting licence-cum-mining lease for minerals other than coal, lignite and sand for stowing would be 17th September, 2015.

Lease holders for coal, lignite and sand for stowing

44. The learned Additional Solicitor General sought to rely on the subsequent notification dated 31st August, 2016 which substituted paragraph 3 in the notification of 20th October, 2015 with the requirement that the contribution ―shall be paid with effect from the 12th January, 2015.‖ For the same reasons already given by us, such a retroactive substitution is ultra vires the rule making power of the Central Government. The notification dated 31st August, 2016 is clearly beyond the rule making power of the Central Government and must be struck down and we do so. All that this means is that the notification of 20th October, 2015 remains untouched and must be read and understood on its plain language. The result is that in respect of coal, lignite and sand for stowing the holder of a mining lease or a prospecting licence- cum-mining lease shall pay the contribution to the DMF from 20 th October, 2015 or the date of establishing the DMF, whichever is later.

46. Having considered the issues raised by the petitioners and by the learned Additional Solicitor General in different perspectives, we hold:

47. We fervently hope the State Governments recognize their responsibilities and utilize the contributions to the District Mineral Funds quickly and for the object for which they have been established, particularly since the amounts involved are huge.

48. We grant time till 31st December, 2017 to those holders of a mining lease or a prospecting licence-cum-mining lease who have not made the full contribution to the District Mineral Funds to pay the T.C. (C) Nos.43/2016 etc.etc. Page 33 of 34 contribution, failing which they will be liable to make the contribution with interest at 15% per annum from the due date. We also make it clear that in the event any holder of a mining lease or a prospecting licence-cum-mining lease has mistakenly made contributions to the District Mineral Fund from a date prior to the date that we have determined, such a holder of a mining lease or a prospecting licence- cum-mining lease shall not be entitled to any refund but may adjust the contribution against future contributions, without the benefit of any interest.

49. With the above conclusions, Transfer Petition Nos.74-76/2017 are allowed, Transferred Cases (arising out of Transfer Petition (C) Nos.74-76/2017), Transferred Cases (C) Nos.43 and 51 of 2016 and the batch of petitions are disposed of. All other pending applications are also disposed of.

.......……………………J (Madan B. Lokur) ...………………………J (Sanjay Kishan Kaul) ……………………….....J New Delhi; (Deepak Gupta) October 13, 2017 T.C. (C) Nos.43/2016 etc.etc. Page 34 of 34