( 28 ) FOR a proper appreciation of this point, it is necessary to. set out Rules 67 and 68 of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1949. They read as under:-

"67. Availability of areas for re-grant to be signified by Entry in Standard Register-

NO area which was previously held under a prospecting licence or a mining lease shall be treated as available for re-grant unless an entry to that effect has been made in Standard Register. The date from which the area shall be treated as available for re-grant shall be notified in the official Gazette of the State at least 30 days in advance.

EXPLANATION :-For the purpose of this rule, the Registers required to be maintained under Rules 20 and 33 shall be deemed to be Standard Registers.

68. Premature applications- Applications for grant of a prospecting licence or a mining lease in respect of areas which have been previously held under a prospecting licence or a mining lease but in respect of which there is no entry in the Standard Registe ras provided in Rule 67 shall be deemed to be premature and shall be disposed of by the State Government accordingly. The fee paid shall be refunded. "

( 29 ) RULE 67 consists of two parts. The first part provides that no area which was previously held under a prospecting licence or a mining lease shall be treated as available for re-grant, unless an entry to that effect has been made in the standard register. Rule 33 of the Rules of 1949 provides that a register of mining leases shall be maintained by the State Government specifying, as far as may be, the particulars specified in Rule 20. One of the particulars specified in Rule 20 is that in 20 (18), viz. . , 'the date from which the area is available for re-grant". Thus, "unless an entry is made in the standard register to the effect that the area in question is avialable for re-grant. the area cannot be treated as being so available. " Although the first part of Rule 67 does not make a reference to the date from which the area is available, it has to be read with Rule 33 and Rule 20 (18), and when so read it is clear that "it is not enough to state in the standard register that the area is available for re-grant, but the date from which the area is available for re-grant should also be staled in the entry in the register. The second part of Rule 67 provides that the date from which the area shall be treated as available for re-grant, shall be notified in the official Gazette of the State at least thirty days in advance. "the words "thirty days in advance" obviously mean thirty days in advance of the date from which the area shall be treated as available for re-grant. "

( 30 ) IN the present case, the State of Bombay issued a notification on January 11, 1960, under Rule 67, declaring that the area in question had become available with effect from February 18, 1960. It was published in the Gazette on January 21, 1960. An entry to that effect was made in the standard register on February 1, 1960. Then, a notification was issued on February 15, 1960, under Rule 62a of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1949, changing the date February 18, 1960, to February 22, 1960, and the same was published in Gazette Extraordinary on February 17, 1960. It was common ground before us that an entry to that effect was made in the standard register between February 18, 1960 and February 20, 1960. The argument of the learned counsel was that the language of Rule 67 shows that the entry in, the standard register mentioned in the first part of Rule 67 should be made before the notification is published in the Official Gazette under the second part of Rule 67, and that since in the present case, the publication in the Gazette was on January 21, 1960, before the entry was made in the standard register on February 1, 1960, the requirement of Rule 67 should be held to have not been compiled with as opined by the Central Government. The learned counsel pointed out that even if the notification published in the Gazette on February 17, 1960,

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