JUDGMENT

Ruma Pal, J.-The appellants gather and trade in seashells. The seashells are collected from lands belonging to private individuals along the seashore near Tuticorin in the State of Tamil Nadu. The question to be decided is whether sea shells can be termed to be mineral within the meaning of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 (referred to as the Act).

2. The Act was enacted by the Central Government in exercise of its power under Entry 54 of List I of the Seventh Schedule read with Article 246 of the Constitution. Under Section 2 of the Act it was declared that it is expedient in the public interest that the Union should take under its control the regulation of mines and the development of minerals to the extent provided in the Act. The word minerals has been, somewhat un-helpfully, defined in Section 3(a) as including "all minerals except mineral oils". Despite the generality of this definition, from the provisions of the Act it is clear that there are two classes of minerals. The first is that of "minor minerals" which has been defined in Section 3(e) of the Act as meaning "building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand other than san