JUDGMENT

SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.

Leave granted. These two appeals are preferred by the appellants M.P. State Mining Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the “Mining Corporation”) and the State of Madhya Pradesh (hereinafter referred to as the “State”) against the common judgment dated 20th April, 2011 passed by the Division Bench of Delhi High Court in LPA No. 742 of 2010 with LPA No. 284 of 2011. By its impugned judgment, the Division Bench dismissed the appeals preferred by the Mining Corporation and the State with costs quantified at Rs.25,000/- for each appeal and affirmed the judgment dated 21st September, 2010 passed by the learned Single Judge of Delhi High Court.

2. The factual matrix of the case is as follows:-

The Government of Madhya Pradesh on 3rd November, 1966 granted a mining lease over an area of 28.00 acres in Village Kari, District Tikamgarh, (M.P.) to one Rajendra Nath Bhaskar for extraction of Pyrophyllite and Diaspore minerals under the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act, 1957”) read with Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as the “Rules, 1960”) for a period of twenty y