SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
judgment-img

2024 Supreme(SC) 604

D. Y. CHANDRACHUD, HRISHIKESH ROY, ABHAY S. OKA, B. V. NAGARATHNA, J. B. PARDIWALA, MANOJ MISRA, UJJAL BHUYAN, SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH
Mineral Area Development Authority – Appellant
Versus
Steel Authority of India & Anr Etc. – Respondent


Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant(s) : Mr. Arvind P. Datar, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Prabha Swami, AOR Mr. Nikhil Swami, Adv. Ms. Divya Swami, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Ms. Sansriti Pathak, Adv. Mr. Eklavya Dwivedi, Adv. Mrs. Apurva Upmanyu, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Sansriti Pathak, AOR Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Sukant Vikram, Adv. Mr. Eklavya Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Prashant Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Prashant Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Amarjeet Gupta, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Uddyam Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Swapnil Pattanayak, Adv. Ms. Manisha Chava, Adv. Mr. Agnibha Chatterjee, Adv. Ms. Shagun Thakur, Adv. Ms. Bln Shivani, Adv. Mr. Abhijeet Singh, Adv. Mr. Rustam Singh Chauhan, Adv. Ms. Sthavi Asthana, Adv. Mr. Ashwin Joseph, Adv. Ms. Poornima Singh, Adv. Mr. Annirudh Singh, Adv. Ms. Shreya Jain, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Gp. Capt. Karan Singh Bhati, AOR Mr. Hemendra Sharma, Adv. Ms. Chitrangda Rastravara, Adv. Mr. Abhijeet Singh, Adv. Mr. Anirudh Singh, Adv. Mr. Aishwary Mishra, Adv. Mr. Dhananjai Shekhwat, Adv. Mr. Shiv Autar Singh Sengar, Adv. Mr. Dashrath Singh, Adv. Mr. Yogeshwar Krishna, Adv. Ms. Anjali Sexena, Adv. Mr. S.K. Bagaria, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ashok Grover, Sr. Adv. Mr. Praveen Kumar, AOR Mr. Kumar Ajit Singh, Adv. Ms. Sunaina Kumar, Adv. Mr. Karuppaiah Meyyappan, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kalaiyarsan, Adv. Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ashwarya Sinha, AOR Ms. Priyanka Sinha, Adv. Mr. Aditya Malhotra, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Syed Shahid Hussain Rizvi, AOR Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, AOR Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, AOR Mr. Ram Lal Roy, AOR Mr. Shiv Singh Yadav, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Ninad Laud, Adv. Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Chirag Nayak, Adv. Mr. Rishi Agrawala,, Adv. Mr. M.S. Ananth, Adv. Ms. S. Lakshmi Iyer, Adv. Mr. Zubin Dash, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Saraswat, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Abhimanyu Bhandari, Adv. Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Ms. Roohe Dua, Adv. Ms. Stuti Bisht, Adv. Mr. Nitesh Bhandari, Adv. Mr. Arav Pandit, Adv. Mr. Harshit Khanduja, Adv. Mr. Prabhat Kumar Rai, Adv. Ms. Dhankshi Gandhi, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Singh, Adv. Mr. Sahib Kochhar, Adv. Mr. Shourajeet Chakravarty, Adv. Mr. Randeep Sachdeva, Adv. Ms. Aprajita Bhardwaj, Adv. Ms. Shreya Arora, Adv. Mr. Maitreya, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Shantwanu Singh, Adv. Mr. Megh Shyam Bhangle, Adv. Mr. Raj Kishor Sinha, Adv. Mr. Rahul Dubey, Adv. Ms. Pragya Singh, Adv. Mr. Sunny Singh, Adv. Mr. Akshay Singh, Adv. Mr. Kunal Verma, AOR Mr. H. D. Thanvi, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Achal Singh Bule, Adv. Mr. Rishi Matoliya, AOR Mr. K. V. Mohan, AOR Mr. K.V. Balakrishnan, Adv. Mr. R.k. Raghavan, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Mrs. Sheela Goel, AOR Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR Mr. Shibu Devasia Olickal, Adv. Ms. Samyuktha H Nair, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR Mr. Prabhat Ranjan Raj, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Anand, Adv. Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Jain, Adv. Mrs. Divya Mishra, Adv. Mr. U.A. Rana, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Mehta, Adv. M/S. Gagrat And Co, AOR Mr. S. K. Verma, AOR Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, AOR Ms. Manjeet Kirpal, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mrs. Vanita Bhargava, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Juneja, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Ajay Bhargava, Adv. Ms. Monika Singh, Adv. Mr. Aakash Bajaj, Adv. Ms. Muskan Narang, Adv. Ms. Prerona Banerjee, Adv. Ms. Nandita Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Avirat Kumar, Adv. Ms. Tijil Thakur, Adv. Ms. Aarushi Yadav, Adv. M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. Ranjeet Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Nitin Singh, Adv. Mr. Akshaya Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Pawan R Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Sarvjit Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Ninad Laud, Adv. Mr. Dhananjya Mishra, Adv. Mr. Zubin Dash, Adv. Mr. Rishi Maheshwari, Adv. Ms. Anne Mathew, Adv. Mr. Bharat Sood, Adv. Ms. Miranda Solaman, Adv. Ms. Nivedita Sudheer, Adv. Ms. Sunaina Phul, Adv. Mr. Shailendra Swarup, AOR Ms. Bindu Saxena, Adv. Ms. Aparajita Swarup, Adv. Mr. Surender Kumar Gupta, AOR Ms. Muskan Gupta, Adv. Ms. Nandini Sen Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Sumit Teterrwal, AOR
For the Respondent(s):Mr. R. Venkataramani, Attorney General for India Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. S.K. Bagaria, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rupesh Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sunil Kumar Jain, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, Adv. Mr. Shaantanu Jain, Adv. Ms. Anusha Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Deepanshu Jain, Adv. Mr. Achintya Kumar Sinha, Adv. Mr. Kumar Ajit Singh, Adv. Mr. Manish Jain, Adv. Ms. Rashika Swarup, Adv. Mr. Saksham Garg, Adv. Mr. Jyotirmoy Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Sachin Sharma, Adv. Ms. Kanika Kalaiyarasan, Adv. Mr. Raman Chitwan Singh, Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Prashat Rawat, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Sansriti Pathak, AOR Mr. Eklavya Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Sukant Vikram, Adv. Mr. Prashant Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Amarjeet Gupta, Adv. Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gaurav Jain, Adv. Ms. Abha Jain, AOR Ms. Kavya Jhawar, Adv. Mr. Pawanshree Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Sneha Kalita, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Hansaria, Adv. Ms. Nandini Rai, Adv. Mr. Jaivir Singh, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Gp. Capt. Karan Singh Bhati, AOR Mr. Nithin Chowdary Pavuluri, Adv. Ms. Poornima Singh, Adv. Ms. Manisha Chava, Adv. Ms. Shagun Thakur, Adv. Ms. Bln Shivani, Adv. Mr. Rustam Singh Chauhan, Adv. Ms. Sthavi Asthana, Adv. Mr. Ashwin Joseph, Adv. Ms. Shreya Jain, Adv. Ms. Shivika Mehra, Adv. Ms. Anupriya Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Anuradha Arputam, Adv. Mr. Akshaj Singh, Adv. Ms. Radhika Misra, Adv. Mr. Sunit Chaudhary, Adv. Mr. Vasu Vats, Adv. Ms. Riddhi Jad, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Gupta, Adv. Mr. Harish N Salve, Sr. Adv. Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, AOR Mr. Jaydeep Patel, Adv. Mr. S. Mahesh Sahasranaman, Adv. Ms. Shilpa Balani, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Sharma A S, Adv. Mr. Tushar Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Manan Shishodia, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Arvind P. Datar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rahul Unnikrishnan, Adv. Mr. Kumar Visalaksh, Adv. Mr. Udit Jain, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Vikas, AOR Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, AAG, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rajiv Shanker Dvivedi, Adv. Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Beenu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Venkat Narayan, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Abhishek Gupta, AOR Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. C. Kranthi Kumar, Adv. Ms. Devyani Gupta, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Adv. Ms. Tanvi Anand, Adv. Ms. Saushriya Havelia A, Adv. Mr. Naman Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Danish Saifi, Adv. Ms. Arjoo Rawat, Adv. Mr. Sarathraj B, Adv. Ms. Nilofar Khan, AOR Mr. G. N. Reddy, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Vishal Meghwal, Adv. Dr. Charu Mathur, Adv. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Abhinandini Sharma, Adv. Mr. B.s. Rajesh Agrajit, Adv. Mr. Abhijeet Shah, Adv. Mr. Harsha Vinoy, Adv. Ms. Priya Nagar, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Goswami, Adv. Mr. Aakash Sharma, Adv. Ms. Jyoti Rana, Adv. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Abhinandini Sharma, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv. Ms. Shalini Singh, Adv. Mr. Deepak Verma, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR Mr. Ajay Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. R.P. Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Rajan Narain, AOR Mr. Saurabh Mishra, A.A.G. Ms. Ankita Choudhary, A.A.G. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Adv. Mr. Karan Bishnoi, Adv. Mr. Sunil Roy, AOR Ms. Ritika Gambhir Kohli, AOR Mr. Omar Ahmad, Adv. Mr. Vikram Shah, Adv. Mr. Tuhin Dey, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Kohli, Adv. Mr. Kushank Garg, Adv. Ms. Kritika Khurana, Adv. Ms. Shrishti Jeswani, Adv. Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR M/S. Ars Associates, AOR Mr. V. K. Verma, AOR Mr. Praveen Kumar, AOR Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ambhoj Kumar Sinha, AOR Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Mr. Apurv Kurup, A.A.G. Mr. S. S. Shroff, AOR Mr. Prafull N Bharat, Adv. Gen./Sr. Adv. Mr. Bishwajit Dubey, A.A.G. Mr. Atul Jha, A.A.G. Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, D.A.G. Mr. Praneet Pranav, D.A.G. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Standing Counsel, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Shukla, Adv. Mr. Ravinder Kumar Yadav, AOR Mr. Vinay Mohan Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Prabhleen Apoorv Shukla, Adv. Ms. Kritika Yadav, Adv. Ms. Devina Sehgal, AOR Mr. Gaurav Kejriwal, AOR Mr. K. Parameshwar, A.A.G. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Santosh Krishnan, AOR Mr. Abhisth Kumar, AOR Mr. Ramendra Mohan Patnaik, AOR Mr. Syed Shahid Hussain Rizvi, AOR Ms. Punam Kumari, AOR Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Saurabh Singh, Adv. Mr. Rohit K. Singh, AOR Mr. Pritam Biswas, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Pratibha Malviya, Adv. Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. Manjula Gupta, AOR Mr. Harsh Parashar, AOR Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR Mr. Aditya Bhanu Neekhra, Adv. Mr. Atul Dong, Adv. Mr. Aniket Patel, Adv. Mr. Prem Sunder Jha, AOR Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rishi Agrawala,, Adv. Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv. Mr. M.S. Ananth, Adv. Ms. S. Lakshmi Iyer, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Saraswat, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Kedar Nath Tripathy, AOR Mr. Mishra Saurabh, AOR Mrs. Vanita Bhargava, Adv. Mr. Ajay Bhargava, Adv. M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR Mr. Rutwik Panda, AOR Ms. Nikhar Berry, Adv. Ms. Anshu Malik, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Malhotra, AOR Mr. Parijat Kishore, AOR Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. Ameet Siingh, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, Adv. Ms. Pareena Swarup, Adv. Mr. Ravi Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv. Mr. K.p. Singh, Adv. Ms. Payal Swarup, Adv. Mr. Nityanand Mahato, Adv. Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. Kartik Seth, Adv. Ms. Maithili Moondra, Adv. Mr. Prashanth Dixit, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Bhati, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Chiranjeev Sharma, Adv. Mr. Pushkin Tandon, Adv. M/S. Chambers Of Kartik Seth, AOR Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rishi Agrawala,, Adv. Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv. Mr. M.s. Ananth, Adv. Ms. S. Lakshmi Iyer, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Saraswat, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR M/S. Trilegal Advocates On Record, AOR Mr. Sudipta Bhattacharjee, Adv. Mr. Onkar, Adv. Mr. Rajat Mittal, AOR Mr. Arjyadeep Roy, Adv. Mr. Suprateek Neogi, Adv. Mr. Vivek Sharma, AOR Dr. Vijay Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anand Varma, AOR Ms. Apoorva Pandey, Adv. Ms. Adyasha Nanda, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rishi Agrawala,, Adv. Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv. Mr. M.S. Ananth, Adv. Ms. S. Lakshmi Iyer, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Saraswat, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. Ameet Siingh, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, Adv. Ms. Pareena Swarup, Adv. Mr. Ravi Kumar, Adv. Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv. Mr. K.P. Singh, Adv. Ms. Payal Swarup, Adv. Mr. Nityanand Mahato, Adv. Mr. Akshat Shrivastava, AOR Mr. Manish Kumar Saran, AOR Ms. Anuradha Dutt, Adv. Ms. Fereshte D. Sethna, Adv. Ms. Suman Yadav, Adv. Ms. Priyanka M.P., Adv. Mr. Haaris Fazili, Adv. Mr. Kunal Dutt, Adv. Mr. Yash Mittal, Adv. Mr. Raghav Dutt, Adv. Ms. B. Vijayalakshmi Menon, AOR Mr. S.P. Singh, Sr. Adv. Sheenu Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Malhotra, Adv. Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Keshav Singh, Adv. Mr. Samarath Luthra, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Mr. MKS Menon Adv. Ms. Usha Nandini, AOR Mr. Biju P Raman, Adv. Mr. Shashank Menon, Adv. Mr. Amit Mital, Adv. Mr. John Thomas Arakal, Adv.

Judgement Key Points

Question 1? What is the true nature of royalty under Section 9 of MMDR Act: is it a tax or a contractual exaction? Question 2? What is the scope and meaning of Entry 50 of List II (taxes on mineral rights) in relation to Entry 54 of List I and the MMDR Act: does MMDR impose limitations on state taxing powers? Question 3? Can a State levy taxes on mineral-bearing land under Entry 49 List II using mineral value or royalty as measure, in light of Parliament’s power to regulate mineral development under Entry 54 List I?

Key Points: - (!) The MMDR Act declares Union control over regulation of mines and development of minerals; royalty is fixed under Section 9 and Second Schedule. - (!) Section 9 authorizes royalty payments; the Central Government can amend rates under Section 9(3). - (!) Petitioners argued royalty is not a tax; respondents argued any levy related to mineral development limits state taxing powers under Entry 50 List II. - (!) Nine-judge bench discusses inter-relationship between Entry 50 List II and Entry 54 List I. - (!) Entry 50 is "taxes on mineral rights" subject to "any limitations imposed by Parliament by law relating to mineral development." - (!) Parliament’s supremacy through Entry 54 List I can denude State power in areas covered by MMDR Act. - (!) Conclusions: royalty is a tax or exaction; Entry 50 is not an exception to Sundararaman; MMDR Act imposes limitations on state taxation of mineral rights. - (!) States can tax mineral-bearing lands under Entry 49 List II only to the extent not denuded by Parliament; royalties/measures under MMDR may limit that field. - (!) Holdings that Entries 49 and 50 operate in distinct fields but can coexist with nexus-based measures; need to harmonize.

Question 1?

What is the true nature of royalty under Section 9 of MMDR Act: is it a tax or a contractual exaction?

Question 2?

What is the scope and meaning of Entry 50 of List II (taxes on mineral rights) in relation to Entry 54 of List I and the MMDR Act: does MMDR impose limitations on state taxing powers?

Question 3?

Can a State levy taxes on mineral-bearing land under Entry 49 List II using mineral value or royalty as measure, in light of Parliament’s power to regulate mineral development under Entry 54 List I?


JUDGMENT

Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI.

Table of Contents

A.

Background

B.

Issues

C.

Submissions

i.

Submissions of the petitioners

ii.

Submissions of the respondents

D.

Distribution of legislative fields relating to mines and minerals

E.

Underlying constitutional philosophy

i.

Scheme of distribution of legislative powers and constitutional limitations 29

ii.

Interpretation of legislative entries

iii.

Fiscal Federalism

iv.

Natural resources and the public trust doctrine

F.

Whether royalty is tax

i.

Royalty under the MMDR Act

ii.

Purpose of Section 9 of the MMDR Act

iii.

Contours of a mining lease

a.

Lease and license

b.

The nature of a mining lease under the MMDR Act and the Mineral Concession Rules 1960

iv.

Meaning of “royalty”

v.

Characteristics of Tax

vi.

Royalty is not in the nature of tax

a.

Prelude to India Cement

b.

Divergence between India Cement and Kesoram

c.

Royalty is not a tax

G.

Inter-relationship between Entry 23 of List II and Entry 54 of List I

i.

Meaning of “regulation of mines” a


Click Here to Read the rest of this document
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon telegram-icon
whatsapp-icon Back to top