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2022 Supreme(Mad) 115
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
S.M. SUBRAMANIAM, J.
The Associated Cement Companies Limited, Represented by its Sr. Vice President, Coimbatore - Appellant
Versus
State of Tamil Nadu, Represented by its Secretary to Government, Industries Department, Chennai & Others - Respondent
W.P. Nos. 10559, 12033, 12928, 12955, 14447, 14841 & 14842 of 2002 & W.P.M.P. Nos. 14259 & 19454 of 2002
Decided On : 21-01-2022
For the Appellant :P.R. Raman, M.S. Krishnan, C. Seethapathy, Karthick Rajan, Thriyambak J. Kannan, M. Praveen Kumar, Rahul Balaji, Advocates.
For the Respondents:R. Shanmugasundaram, Advocate General assisted by P. Muthukumar, Government Pleader.
Headnote:
Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 226 - Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 - Section 9 - Mining activities - Mining lease agreements - Payment of Royalty to the State- monetary loss - Whether impugned demand notice is within statutory power conferred under Act and Rules or not - Whether there is any violation of principles of natural justice in the case of petitioners -Whether assessment made by State by adopting theory of consumption factor and asking royalty to be paid is rational or not – Held, Mines and Minerals and anything under Earth are Nation’s wealth and belong to “We, people of India”. Thus, no one can be allowed to exploit “We, people of India” and least by few greedy men for their unjust gains. Illegalities under cover of legality is modern invention of few super brains. Thus, modernised measuring system of mining operations are imminent - Royalty paid during pendency of writ petition and actual removal of minerals and its consumption are to be assessed accurately, so as to collect royalty in commensuration with removal and consumption of minerals by all these writ petitioners. Failure in assessment would cause great loss to Revenue of State and therefore, urgent actions are highly warranted - In addition to consumption factor assessment, drone measurement is to be taken on field for purpose of identifying quantum of limestone removed from the mines and accordingly, assessments and computations are to be made regarding the limestone removed and consumed by petitioners for the purpose of recovery of royalty with reference to the provisions of the Act and Rules - Writ petitions disposed of.
JUDGMENT :
Prayer: WP 10559 of 2002 is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Certiorari, calling for the records relating to the order passed by the second respondent bearing Rc.No.17556/MM1/99 dated 19.03.2002 received by the petitioner on 22.03.2002 and quash the same.
1. The ‘Road Map’, through which the batch of writ petitions on hand traverse, is significant. The writ petitions were filed in the year 2002, questioning the demand notices issued by the State. The writ petitions were admitted and an interim order was passed. This Bench (S.M.Subramaniam, J.) had an occasion to hear these matters in December 2018 and at the instance of the parties, adjournments were granted to prepare the case, as it was pending for a longer period. During the relevant point of time, it was found that the entire case bundles relating to this batch itself were missing from the Registry of the High Court. Even the affidavits, docket orders and nothing in connection with these writ petitions were available. However, the interim stay granted is in force for about 19 years in the year 2019 itself and under those circumstances, this Court passed an order on 01.02.2019 as follows:-
M/s.Narmadha Sampath, learned Additional Advocate General at the first instance, made a complaint that the bundle itself was missing from the Registry of Hon’ble High Court of Madras.
2. The matter involves Mining activities and Payment of Royalty to the State. The monetary loss being assessed by the State is huge and therefore, the matter deserves an urgent consideration and the original case bundles are not available with the Registry and this apart, interim stay granted is in force for the past 18 years and those circumstances, the matter was taken up for hearing and Mr.P.R.Raman, learned Senior counsel for the writ petitioner, Mr.N.Venkataraman, learned Senior counsel for the writ petitioner and Mr.K.Ramakrishna Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner argued their respective cases before this Court elaborately.
3. The learned Additional Advocate General also completed her arguments today on 01.02.2019.
4. The learned Senior counsel appearing on behalf of the writ petitioners made a submission that they want to get some more instructions from the petitioners and reply to the queries raised by the learned Additional Advocate General.
5. Mr.N.Venkataraman, learned Senior counsel also requested for time as he was proceeding to the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal. In view of the fact that this Court spent considerable length of time by hearing the entire case and the respective learned Senior Counsels also argued substantially, this Court has to pass orders in this matter and accordingly, Registry is directed to list this matter for pronouncing orders on 11.02.2019.”
2. Again it was adjourned at the instance of the parties and the case was treated as ‘Part-Heard’ by this Court on 25.02.2019 and following orders were passed:-
This matter was Part-Heard by this Court.
2. The learned Senior Counsels, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, Shri.P.R.Raman, Shri.M.Venkatraman, Shri K.Ramakrishna Reddy as well as the learned Additional Advocate General, completed their arguments.
3. However, the matter was adjourned for production of certain documents, the reconstructed bundles and the typed set of papers.
4. Under these circumstances, there is a change in roster and therefore, the Registry is directed to place the papers before My Lord The Hon’ble Chief Justice for passing appropriate orders.”
However, it is not made clear whether the order dated 25.02.2019 had been complied with by the Registry or not.
3. The matter was again kept pending and once again it is listed before this Court during the regular course in December 2021, and the original case papers are found. The consequences of long pendency undoubtedly caused huge loss of revenue to
