Summarize the following court judgment. tition Nos. 1311	 1269 70	 1113	 1109	 1479 1480	 924 925	 1478	 1250 1251	 1219	 926 927	 1072 1076	 1565	 1652 1654	 1434 1435	 1648	 1306 1310	 13121314	 1590 1591	 1588 1589 of 1979 and 400	 192	 448 and 462 of 1980. (Under Article 32 of the Constitution) A. K. Sen and section K. Sinha for the Petitioners in WP Nos. 1306 1314/79	 1434	 1113	 1109	 1250 1251	 1219	 1072 1076	 1565	 1652 1654	 1435/79 and 192/80. 588 K. N. Choubey and A. K. Srivastava for the Petitioners in WP Nos. 1269 1270	 1590 1591	 1588 1589	 924 925	 926 927/79. M. P. Jha for the Petitioners in W.P. 1648/79. A. K. Ganguli	 for the Petitioner in W.P. Nos. 1479 1480/79. Arun Madan for the Petitioners in W.P. No. 40()/80. section N. Jha for the Petitioners in W.P. No. 488/80. K. N. Choubey and Mukul Mudgal for the Petitioners in W.P. 462/80. Lal Narain Sinha Att. Genl.	 M. K. Banerjee Addl. Sol '. Genl.	 and Miss A. Subhashini for the Respondent Union of India	 Central Coal Fields	 Easter Coal Field in WP. 1307	 1310	 1312	 1314 and Respondent 3 in W.P. Nos. 1308	1588	 1589	 1434	 1072 1076/79. Lal Narain Sinha Att. and U. P. Singh for the Respondents	 State of Bihar and Its officials in W.P. Nos. 1588 89	 1434	 1109	 924 925	 1250 1251	 926 927	 1219	 1250 1251	 1072	 1290 91	 1648	 1479 80	 1073 1074	 1565/79 and 400	 192	 488 and 462/80. Lal Narain Sinha Att. and Rathin Dass for the Respondents (West of Bengal) in W.P. Nos. 1306 1314	 1073 1074/79. P. K. Chatterjee for the State of West Bengal in W.P. 1072/79. A. K. Srivastava for the Caveator/Respondent No. 4 in W.P. Nos. 1652 1654 of 1979. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER	 J. 'Survival after death ' is the expression that aptly describes these writ petitions relating to coal mining by private agencies long after a prohibitory legislation and an order by this Court repelling the challenges to the vires of that Act. Parliament by the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Amendment Act	 1976 (Act No. LXVII of 1976) (For short	 the 1976 Act) totally prohibited all mining of coal save by instrumentalities set out in section 3	 sub section (3) which we may excerpt here: (3) 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 589 (ii) a person to whom a sub lease	 referred to in the proviso to cl. (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 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 sublease 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 the sub lease will not be required to be transported by rail. It is obvious that the provision is peremptory and the prohibition is mandatory because there is punishment provided for contravention of that provision. Section 4(1) of the 1976 Act makes a breach of section 3(3) punishable with imprisonment. This broad spectrum ban in law arrested the extraction of coal and was naturally assailed as ultra vires by the managements themselves in writ petitions under article 32. A bench of seven judges of this court heard erudite and elaborate arguments	 at the end of which the writ petitions were dismissed. But it is not unusual for many litigants 'even though vanquished	 to argue still '. Here	 however	 the challenge and challenger are of different colour. For	 the petitioners before us 590 claim to be workmen who are thrown out of employment on account of the 1976 Act and lament in this Court that they are discriminated against and on that score the law is violative of article 14 of the Constitution. The plea put forward is that in regard to nationalised coal mines the workmen are taken care of and their benefits assured	 while in regard to coal mines where mining is prohibited by section 3(3) of the 1976 Act the workmen are left in the cold. This is stated to be discrimination between workmen and workmen	 thus contravening the mandate of equality before the law. Maybe	 the writ missiles of the managements proved damp squibs but the workers undaunted by that rebuff	 want to try a new weapon of ultra vires. The coal will go to the employers and the wages to the workers. The Union of India resists this relief and contends that the writ petitioners are mere reincarnations of the old managements which have fought and lost and are masquerading as workmen so as to facilitate a second challenge. The State asserts that clandestine coal mining mafia having been stopped	 these racketeers are playing the maricha game through bogus workers in tears. Without going into the merits of this averment we may state that every other conceivable objection to the validity of the 1976 Act and other sister enactments had been urged in vain before the seven judges ' bench. Now the alleged workmen are complaining of discriminatory denial of benefits to one class of workers. The Union of India counters this plea as factually a ruse for clandestine mining operations by management and legally a second battle after the legal Waterloo	 hoping against hope that there is nothing to lose in a gamble. Even if a spell of stay were got the gain will outweigh possible losses in litigation. Indeed	 the State 's contention is that considerable losses to Government and traumatic consequences on the nation are being daily inflicted by such clandestine operations. The whole mischief contemplated by the 1976 Act is being continued under the guise of invalidity of the legislation and	 alternatively	 by going to court and getting receivers appointed so that a legal colour is imparted to lawless depradations. It is true that nationalisation of coal	 as a policy	 has been evolved over the seventies. In the beginning	 the management of coal mines was taken over and at a later stage ownership itself vested in the Union of India by virtue of ownership of all coal mines is the simple and incontrovertible fact emerging from the bunch of legislation we have been taken through. We are not going into the catena of enactments and their sequence covering this question	 because they are being discussed in greater detail and fuller depth in the comprehensive judgment where reasons have yet to be given but the result	 by way 591 Of brief order	 has already been announced. Suffice it to say that the 1976 Act totally prohibits working of any coal mines by any agency other than those which have been set out in section 3(3). Surely	 there is authority for the managements under whom the present petitioners are alleged to be workmen to operate coal mines in the face of the prohibition in the 1976 Act. There is a point of dispute raised by the Union of India that the managements which have come up before this Court do not have even leases under the . This is controverted by the other side but we may side step that issue because it is not essential for the decision of this case. For one thing	 no such lease is before us. For another	 what is relied on in some cases is hukumnamas which cannot do duty for leases. Even granting leases and their renewal by the State itself as is asserted in a few cases	 the grown and force of the law stand four square between the mines and extraction of coal by any but the agencies specified in s.3(3) of the 1976 Act. It is common ground that there is no specification of the coal mines in question in the schedule to the nationalisation legislation of 1973	 nor is there any specific notification relating thereto. Investigation by the State or intimation by the private managements are obligatory under the appropriate legislation and in the absence of any intimation none has been produced before us we have to presume that these are no such coal mines as are set up before us. What apparently has been done	 it at all	 is to do what has been described as 'scratching that is surface mining of coal bearing areas	 destructive of the natural resources of the nation without any thought for the morrow and without any reference to the planned	 phased programme of exploitation of coal for the benefit of the country in the public sector. We are satisfied that on the materials placed before us in all these cases	 the mines	 if any	 are illicitly being operated	 there being no sanction of the law. It is precisely to prevent this mischief of slaughter mining that section 3(3) was introduced and section 4 was enacted to make the activity punishable. The proscription is comprehensive and the penalty makes it imperative. Once we accept the position that it is not permissible to operate these mines save by those specified in the 1976 statute it necessarily follows that workmen	 genuine or other	 cannot claim any fundamental right to work these mines. The prohibition of mining coal except as under section 3(3) of the 1976 Act	 is in the public interest and indeed	 the scheme shows that wherever public interest requires exploitation of coal mines it has been permitted in the public sector and even in the private sector so far as certain specified industries	 such as iron and steel industries	 are concerned. The ban is part of a 592 national policy	 conceived for conservation of a vital national resource and the wisdom of the regulation of fuel sources and their planned user is beyond argument. therefore	 the language of section 3(3) is express	 explicit and admits of no exception. An aware court will not relax when the language is peremptory	 the legislation is charged with a critical purpose and even the commiserative cause of workmen not wolves in sheep 's clothing. as is asserted	 cannot override the larger cause of the nation. No nation no workmen; Assuming for a moment that the private managements are	 as Dr. Chitale and Shri A. K. Sen urged	 deemed custodians within the scheme of the legislative take over	 they are necessarily to operate oh behalf and under the direction of the Central Government. Here is the Central Government protesting	 as stridently as it can	 against the mining operations by the alleged mine owners. Both the State and Central Governments are making common cause and demand that no deemed custodian need ' work any mine on their behalf. How can a surrogate custodian exceed the command of the principal to stop mining ? The whole case of the Union of India is that a clandestine cluster a sort of coal mafia which may even have got sham registers of workmen is defying Government and extracting coal on the sly. It is audacious for the dubious managements	 under whom the petitioner are supposed to be innocent workmen	 to represent to the court that they are 'deemed custodians '	 working on behalf of the Central Government. Nor are we prepared to accept the naive case that the petitioners ' employers can be regarded as deemed custodians under section section We may read s '. S of the Coal Mines nationalisation Act	 1973. Power of Central Government to direct vesting of rights in a Government company: (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sections 3 and 4	 the Central Government may	 if it is satisfied that a Government company is willing to comply	 or has complied	 with such terms and conditions as that Government may think fit to impose	 direct	 by an order in writing	 the right	 title and interest of an owner in relation to a coal mine referred to in Section 3	 shall; instead of continuing vest in the Central Government	 vest in the Government company either on the date of publication of the direction or on such earlier or later date (not being a date earlier than the appointed day)	 as may be specified in the direction. 593 (2) Where the right	 title and interest of an owner in relating to a coal mines vest in a Government company under sub section (1)	 the Government company shall on and from the date of such vesting	 be deemed to have become the lessee in relation to such coal mine as if a mining lease in relation to the coal mine had been granted to the Government company and the period of such lease shall be the entire period for which such lease could have been granted under the Mineral Concession Rules; and all the rights and liabilities of the Central Government in relation to such coal mine shall	 on and from the date of such vesting	 be deemed to have become the rights and liabilities	 respectively	 of the Government company. (3) The provisions of sub section (2) of section 4 shall apply to a lease which vests in a Government company as they apply to a lease vested in the Central Government and references therein to the "Central Government" shall be construed as references to the Government company. D The notification required under section 5 authorising the mine to be worked	 is admittedly absent. No such notification exists or has been hinted at or is existing. In the absence of the relevant notification contemplated by section 5	 it is impossible to postulate 'deemed custodianship '. There are scheduled mines or notified mines	 under the scheme of statutory management in the Management Take over Act. Notifications are a sine sua non for custodian ship	 actual or deemed and absent such notification taking over management no private agency can self style itself as deemed custodian. It follows that on any view of the matter the managements other than those specified under section 3(3) of the 1976 Act can claim to extract coal from any coal mines. If this conclusion is sound	 as we have demonstrated it is	 the inference is irresistible that no one can claim to extract coal as a workman	 although in public interest	 it is imperative that such operation should stop. We hold that there is no violation of article 14 of the Constitution	 vis a vis is the workmen concerned assuming them to be real workmen. We have grave doubts about the veracity of this piece of workmanship that the petitioner and others of their ilk are actual	 not imaginary. Anyway	 after the dismissal of the managements ' writ petitions	 the argument that the Act impugned is ultra vires vis a vis workmen is a daring legal workmanship. If a larger bench of this Court has already upheld the vires of a statute the discovery of a new argument cannot invalidate that decision. That proposition will make the binding effect of precedents	 read in the light of article 141	 a vanishing cream once a novel thought strikes a legal brain. 594 The question of discrimination between two classes of workmen hardly arises because one set of mines has been closed down validly. If the closure is valid	 no one employed there has a right to force it open on the score of discrimination. Denial of lay off or other benefits belong to a different jurisdiction. If any workmen are really aggrieved that their interests are not protected and that their future is in jeopardy	 it is certainly open to them to make representation to the Central Government for consideration of their lot	 and certainly a welfare State will give due consideration for such representation if it is satisfied that he grievance is genuine. We dismiss the Writ Petition with costs. It has been mentioned on more than one occasion in this court that interlocutory orders have been passed	 that Receivers have been appointed by civil courts	 including High Courts	 and that working of mines is licitly going on. In the face of the all pervasive statutory prohibition which is peremptory in language and punishable in consequence	 it is surprising that any Receiver could at all dare to work mines. While we disapprove of that conduct we make it perfectly plain that there will be no more sanction for any receiver or other officer of court to extract coal or coking coal from any mine in India. Section 3(3) of the 1976 Act being mandatory and having been held constitutional by this Court	 it is no longer permissible for any court in India to appoint a receiver or otherwise permit extraction of coal or cooking coal. We vacate all interim orders forthwith It may be fair to the learned Attorney General	 whose hunch we share to state that this wealth of "workers" writ petitions is a kind of litigative puppetry	 the illicit mine exploiters being the puppetteers and those who figure as worker petitioners being the puppets. S.R. Petitions dismissed.

Dismissing the Writ Petitions	 the Court	 ^ HELD: 1. The provision contained in Section 3(3) of Act LXVII of 1976 is peremptory and the prohibition is mandatory because there is punishment provided for contravention of that provision. Breach of Section 3(3) is made punishable with imprisonment. The 1976 Act totally prohibits working of any coal mines by any agency other than those which have been set out in Section 3(3). Surely	 there is no authority for the managements under whom the present petitioners are alleged to be workmen to operate coal mines in the face of the prohibition of the 1976 Act. Even for granting leases and their renewal by the State itself	 the frown and force of the law stand four square between the mines and extraction of coal by any but the agencies specified in section 3(3) of the 1976 Act [589F G	 591A	 B & C] 2. Investigation of the State or intimation by the private managements are obligatory under the appropriate legislation and in the absence of any intimation the presumption is that there are no such coal mines as are set up before the Court. What apparently has been done	 if at all	 is to do what has been described as 'scratching ' that is surface mining of coal bearing areas	 destructive of the natural resources of the nation without any thought for the morrow and without any reference to the planned	 phased programme of exploitation of coal for the benefit of the country in the public sector. The mines	 if any	 are illicitly being operated	 there being no sanction of the law. It is precisely to prevent this mischief of slaugter mining that s.3(3) was introduced and s.4 was enacted to make the activity punishable. The proscription is comprehensive and the penalty makes it imperative. When it is accepted that it is not permissible to operate these mines save by those specified in the 1976 statute	 it necessarily follows that workmen	 genuine or other	 cannot claim any fundamental right to work these mines. [591D G] 3. The prohibition of mining as under section 3(3) of the 1976 Act	 is in the public interest and indeed	 the scheme shows that wherever public interest requires exploitation of coal mines it has been permitted in the public sector and even in the private sector so far as certain specified industries	 such as iron and steel industries	 are concerned. The ban is part of a national policy	 conceived for conservation of a vital national resource and the wisdom of the regulation of 587 fuel sources and their planned user is beyond argument. Therefore	 the language of section 3(3) is express	 explicit and admits of no exception. An aware Court will not relax when the language is peremptory	 the legislation is charged with a critical purpose and even the commiserative case of workmen not wolves in sheep 's clothing	 cannot override the larger cause of the nation. No nation	 no workmen. [591G H	 592A] 4. It is audacious for the dubious managements under whom the petitioners are supposed to be innocent workmen to represent to the Court that they are "deemed custodians" working on behalf of the Central Government. [592D E] Under section S	 notifications are a sine qua non for custodianship	 actual or deemed and absent such notification taking over management no private agency can self style itself as "deemed custodian". Therefore	 the managements other than those specified in section 3(3) of the 1976 Act	 can not claim to extract coal from any coal mines. If this be so	 no one can claim as a workman	 although in public interest	 although it is imperative that such operation should stop. [593E F] 5. There is no violation of Article 14 of the Constitution vis a vis the workmen concerned assuming them to be real workmen. After the dismissal of the management 's writ petitions	 the argument that the Act impugned is ultra vires vis a vis workmen is a daring legal workmanship. If a larger Bench of this Court has already upheld the vires of a statute the discovery of a new argument cannot invalidate that decision. That proposition will make the binding effect of precedents	 read in the light of article 141 a vanishing cream once a novel thought strikes a legal brain. [593F H] The question of discrimination between two classes of workmen hardly arises because one set of mines has been closed down validly. If the closure is valid	 no one employed there has a right to force it open on the score of discrimination. Denial of lay off or other benefits belong to a different jurisdiction. If any workmen are really aggrieved that their interests are not protected and that their future is in jeopardy	 it is certainly open to them to make representation to the Central Government for consideration of their lot	 and certainly a welfare State will give due consideration for such representation if it is satisfied that the grievance is genuine. [594A B] 6. Section 3(3) of the 1976 Act being mandatory and having been held constitutional by this Court	 it is no longer permissible for any court in India to appoint a receiver or otherwise permit extraction of coal or cooling coal. [594D E]