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Supreme Court of India

STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS.versusHINDUSTAN ZINC LTD. & ANR.

Citation
2013 INSC 149
Decided
11 March 2013
Disposal
Disposed off

Holding

Royalty is payable only on the metal content of ore removed from the leased area; tailings or rejects not removed are exempt, and the direction to recompute royalty is unnecessary.

Summary

The State of Rajasthan leased land to Hindustan Zinc Ltd. for extracting lead and zinc under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. The State issued notices demanding additional royalty, arguing that royalty should be payable on all metal extracted, including that remaining in tailings. Hindustan Zinc contended that under the 2000 Notification and Mineral Concession Rules, royalty is payable only on the metal content of ore removed from the lease, and that tailings dumped within the lease area are exempt. The High Court held in favour of Hindustan Zinc, quashing the additional demand and directing a recomputation of royalty, which the State appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed the High Court's interpretation, holding that royalty is due only on metal removed from the leased area and that tailings not removed are not liable for royalty, and also quashed the direction to recompute royalty as the metal concentrate was already known. Consequently, the State's appeal was dismissed and Hindustan Zinc's appeal was allowed.

Issues considered

  • Whether royalty under Section 9 of the Mines and Minerals Act is payable on tailings or rejects that are not removed from the leased area.
  • Whether the 2000 Notification changes the basis of royalty calculation from concentrate to metal content in ore produced.
  • Interpretation of Rules 64A, 64B, 64C and 648 of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 in relation to processing within the lease area.
  • Whether a direction to recompute royalty by a mining engineer is necessary when the metal concentrate removed is already known.

Legislation cited

Subjects

royaltymining leasetailingsmineral concession rulescalculation of royaltyprocessing within leaseNotification 2000Mines and Minerals Act

Judgment

                      [2013] 4 S.C.R. 704


A               STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS.
                                v.
                 HINDUSTAN ZINC LTD. & ANR.
                 (Civil Appeal No. 1494 of 2008)
                        MARCH 11, 2013
B
             [R.M. LODHA AND ANIL R. DAVE, JJ.]

        Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act,
  1957 - s.9 - Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 - rr. 64A, 648,
C 64C & 640 - Mining lease for extracting lead and zinc -
  Recovery of royalty in respect of minerals extracted by the
  lessee - Methodology fOr calculation of royalty -Notifications
  issued by the Central Government from time to time -
  Notification dated 11th April, 1997 substituted by Notification
D dated 12th September, 2000 - High Court held that lessee-
  company was not liable to pay royalty on the tailings as they
  had not been taken out of the leased area and that as per
  r. 64C, unless dumped tailings or rejects are consumed by the
  lessee, no royalty can be collected on such tailings or rejects
E - Held: Conclusion arrived at by the High Court is correct -
  Negligible contents of metal remaining in the mining area by
  way of tailings, slimes or rejects, which are returned to the
  mother earth cannot be said to be the part of metal content
  in the ore produced - By virtue of Notification dated 12th
F September, 2000 read with the relevant Rules, lessee-
  company supposed to pay royalty only on the contents of
  metal in the ore produced and not on the metal contained in
   the tailings, rejects or slimes which had not been taken out
   of the leased area and which had been dumped into dumping
G ground of the leased area.
      Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act,
  1957 - s.9 - Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 - rr. 64A, 648,
  64C & 640 - Mining lease for extracting lead and zinc -
  Recovery of royalty in respect of the minerals extracted by the
H                              704
 STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC 705
                 LTD. & ANR.
 lessee - Dispute over methodology for calculation of royalty    A
 - Direction issued by High Court remitting the matter to the
 mining engineer for re-computing the royalty payable on lead
 and zinc contained in the ore produced - Held: As the metal
 concentrate taken out from the leased area was known to the
 parties, it was not necessary to have any further details       B
 regarding the ore produced by the lessee-company - Direction
 accordingly quashed.

       Mis Hindustan Zinc Limited had been leased land by
  the State of Rajasthan for the purpose of extracting lead      C
  and zinc therefrom under the provisions of Mines and
· Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
  Section 9 of the Act enables the State to recover royalty
  iri respect of the minerals extracted by the holder of a
  mining lease. Rules 64A, 648, 64C & 640 of the Mineral
  Concession Rules, 1960 pertain to calculation of the           D
  amount of royalty payable.
     Under Notification dated 11th April, 1997, royalty in
 respect of lead and zinc was to be charged on the basis
 of mineral concentrate produced. But thereafter, by virtue      E
 of another Notification dated 12th September, 2000,
 substituting the Notification dated 11th April, 1997, royalty
 in respect of the afore-stated two minerals became
 payable on ad valorem basis on the contents of metal
 found in the ore produced.                                      F

      Accordingly notices were issued to the lessee
 company (M/s Hindustan Zinc Limited) for recovery of
 additional royalty in respect of lead and zinc extracted by
 the company. The company raised contention that
 unless the ores are taken out of the leased premises,           G
 royalty would not be leviable and that negligible contents
 of lead and zinc contained in tailings, which is not taken
 out of the leased area and which is dumped within the
 leased area, can never be taken into account for the
 purpose of calculating royalty.                                 H
     706       SUPRl=ML: COUR"'." R:PORTS           [2013] 4 S.C.R.


A      Tha additioni!I damand for royalty was quashed by
  the High Court. The High Court held that the lessee-
  com?any was not lid:>le to pay royalty on the tailings as
  they had not been t;:;.ken out of the leased area and
  further that as per Rule 64C of the Rules, unless dumped
B tailings or r:ljects ara consumed by the lessee, no royalty
  can be collected on .i;uch tailings or rejects. The High
  Court also directed that the royalty payable on lead and
  zinc conU;inecl in >.h" ore produced be re-calculated by
  the mining engir.e1Y.
c        Against the jud;imcnt deltverad b:• the High Court,
     the instant two app,,ab were filed- one by the State of
     Raj<'sthan wherac.s the other by Mis Hindustan Zinc
     Lir.1i1~.d.

l1     The appea! iilsd by the State of Rajasthan, viz. Civil
   •:Jpeal ~~o. 14!!"\ of 2oca rn;.;inly chali:mged th~ impugned
  judgrnenl on th" ground that by virtue of methodology
  dir:icted to ,J'il ampioyad in t!i:; :raid judgment, the State
  would su;·fer sull:>t::mtb« loss as the lessee company, viz.
E Hindu$t;in z::ic Umit d would be paying much less
  royalty than wh.al lt h >Up!)oscd to pay. On the other
  hand, appeal f!leo by :-ilnrlustan Zinc Limited i.e. Civil
  Appe;;.: no. 1526 c i ?.IJ::3 cliciilenged the direction issued
  by the !-;lgl1 CoU<t, whernby th~ ;::mount of royalty was
F directed to !Je re-calculded oy the mining engineer.

           Oisposlnfl or t:1:i ain:ials the Court

           HEL;)'.

C CIVIL APP~J>.'- NO ... l<;.S..\ o;: ~008
       1. '. Tile concl-..:>io.1 <:rri'.•td ;c,! by tile High Court is
  correct. Upon p~t'...css~ oi 'J1e prov~:sions of Rule 64C of the
  i;lineral C.:ir ce~sic1,1 RuL:is, 1 !!SO, it is very clear that
  unlc<>::: t:13 tailings or r'"iec.s are u<ied for sale or for
H consum•:riion, ·.'..Jc:1 1am.1~u or 1.::jucts would not be liable
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC 707
                LTD. & ANR.
for payment of royalty. Moreover, Rule 648 of the Rules        A
also make it clear that in case of processing of run-of-
mine, royalty shall be charged only on the processed
mineral removed from the leased area. [Paras 23, 27, 28]
[714-F; 715-H; 716-A-B]
                                                               B
     1.2. The Notification dated 12th September, 2000
clearly denote intention of the Government with regard
to the calculation of royalty on the contents of metal in
the ore produced and not on tailings or rejects, which are
not taken out of the leased area. The negligible contents      C
of metal which remains in the mining area by way of
tailings, slimes or rejects, which are returned to the
mother earth cannot be said to be the part of metal
content in the ore produced. [Para 29] [716-B-D]

    1.3. Once a portion of the metal is returned back to       D
the mother earth, it cannot be said to have been extracted
or cannot be said to have been taken out of the leased
area and when the metal which has not been taken out
from the leased area or which is not contained in the ore
produced, it cannot be made subject to payment of              E
royalty because the lease holder never took out that
portion of the metal from the earth and therefore, that
cannot be said to be the part of metal contained in the
ore produced. [Para 31] [716-E-G]
                                                               F
     1.4. The courts below did not commit any mistake in
arriving at the conclusion that t!le holder of the lease was
not liable to pay the amount demanded under the
impugned notices because, by virtue of Notification dated
12th September, 2000 read with tha relevant Rules, the
lease holder is supposed to pay royalty only on the            G
contents of metal in the ore produced and not on the
metal contained in the tailings, rejects or slimes which
had not been taken out of the leased area and which had
been dumped into dumping ground of the leased area.
[Para 35] [717-D-F]                                            H
    708      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [2013] 4 S.C.R.


A        National Mineral Development Corporation Limited v.
    State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr. (2004) 6 SCC 281: 2004
    (2) Suppl. SCR 1 - relied on.
      State of Orissa & Ors. v. Mis. Steel Authority of India Ltd.
B (1998) 6 SCC 476: 1998 (3) SCR 1074 - referred to.
    CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1526 OF 2008
      2. The Hindustan Zinc Limited has been aggrieved by
  the directions whereby the matter has been ordered to
  be remitted to the mining engineer for re-computing the
C royalty payable on lead and zinc contained in the ore
  produced. The submission on behalf of the said lessee
  company was to the effect that as the entire concentrate
  has been taken out of the leased area and as the quantity
  of concentrate of lead and zinc was very much known, it
D was not necessary to give such a direction because
  there is no question with regard to re-computation of
  royalty on the basis of metal contained in ore produced.
  There is substance in what has been submitted because
  the metal concentrate which had been taken out from the
E leased area is known to the parties and therefore, it is not
  necessary to have any further details regarding the ore
  produced by the appellant-company. Therefore, the afore-
  stated direction is quashed. [Paras 36, 38, 39 and 40] [717-
  G-H; 718-A, B-0]
F                        Case Law Reference:
          1998 (3) SCR 1074       referred to        Para 19
          2004 (2) Suppl. SCR 1 relied on            Para 20, 30
G       CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No.
    1494 of 2008
      From the Judgment & Order dated 06.07.2007 of the
  High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan at Jodhpur in D B Civil
  Special Appeal No. 43 of 2006 in S B Civil Writ Petition No.
H 4785 of 2003.
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC 709
                LTD. & ANR.
                            WITH                                  A

    Civil Appeal Noc 1526 of 2008.

    Basava Prabhu S. Patil, K.K. Venugopal, Dushyant A
Dave, Pragati Neekhra, Suryanarayana Singh, Yashode
Sharma, Milind Kumar, Anirudh Singaneria, Dhirandra Negi,         8
Chetan Chopra, Dheeraj Nair, Pooja Dhar, Vibha Datta
Makhija for the Appearing Parties.

    The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

    ANIL R. DAVE, J. 1. Being aggrieved by the judgment
                                                                  c
dated 6th July, 2007 delivered by the High Court of Rajasthan
in D.S. Civil Special Appeal No.43 of 2006, the afore-stated
two appeals have been filed. One appeal has been filed by the
State of Rajasthan whereas the other appeal has been filed by
Hindustan Zinc Limited, who had been leased land situated in      D
districts Bhilwara, Rajsamand and Udaipur by the State of
Rajasthan for extraction of lead and zinc therefrom.

     2. As both the appeals arise from a common judgment, at
the request of the learned counsel, both the appeals were heard   E
together. So far as the appeal filed by the State of Rajasthan,
viz. Civil Appeal No. 1494 of 2008 is concerned, it mainly
challenges the impugned judgment on the ground that by virtue
of methodology directed to be employed in the said judgment,
the State would suffer substantial loss as the lessee company,    F
viz. Hindustan Zinc Limited would be paying much less royalty
than what it is supposed to pay.

     3. On the other hand, an appeal has also been filed by
Hindustan Zinc Limited as it has been aggrieved by the            G
direction issued by the High Court, whereby the amount of
royalty has been directed to be re-calculated.

     4. As Civil Appeal No. 1494 of 2008 filed by the State of
Rajasthan is the main appeal, we would like to deal with the
said appeal at the first instance and, thereafter we would deal   H
    710     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2013] 4 S.C.R.


A with the appeal filed by Hindustan Zinc Limited i.e. Civil Appeal
  No. 1526 of 2008.

    Civil Appeal No. 1494 of 2008

         5. The appellant-State and the State Authorities have been
B   aggrieved by the impugned order whereby the additional
    demand raised under notice dated 24th December, 2001 and
    subsequent notices issued by the State for recovery of royalty
    in respect of the lead and zinc extracted by the respondent-
    company had been quashed by the learned Single Judge of
C   the Rajasthan High Court and the order of the learned Single
    Judge was confirmed by the Division Bench in the appeal filed
    before it. After hearing the concerned learned advocates
    appearing for the State and the respondent-company, the
    learned Single Judge had come to the conclusion that the
D   impugned notices, whereby additional amount was demanded,
    were bad in law and therefore, the petition was allowed and
    the impugned notices dated 22nd December, 2001, 24th
    December, 2001 and 4th January, 2002 had been quashed. It
    may also be stated here that the afore-stated notices had been
E   challenged by the respondent-company initially before the
    revisional authority under the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960,
    which had confirmed the validity of the said notices and
    therefore, the order passed by the revisional authority dated
    2nd July, 2003, whereby the validity of the impugned notices
F   had been upheld, was also quashed and set aside.

        6. The facts giving rise to the issue in question, in a
    nutshell, are as under:

       7. The respondent-company had been leased land in the
G areas of District Bhilwara, Rajsamand and Udaipur for the
  purpose of extracting lead and zinc therefrom under the
  provisions of Mines and Minerals (Development and
  Regulation) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').
  Section 9 of the Act is the charging section, which enables the
H State to recover royalty in respect of the minerals extracted by
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC 711
         LTD. & ANR. [ANIL R. DAVE, J.]
the holder of a mining lease. The Mineral Concession Rules,         A
1960 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules') have been framed
in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 13 of the Act.
Rules 64A, 648, 64C & 64D of the Rules are relevant Rules,
which pertain to calculation of the amount of royalty payable by
the holder of the lease in respect of the minerals extracted from   B
the land leased to the holder of the mining lease.

     8. From time to time, the Government had issued
Notifications determining the rate at which royalty was to be
paid by the holder of the lease in respect of the minerals          C
extracted. In the instant case, we are concerned with two
minerals: lead and zinc. Two Notifications are relevant for the
purpose of determining the issue involved in these appeals.
Under Notification dated 11th April, 1997, by virtue of item nos.
22 and 41 incorporated in the said Notification, royalty in
respect of the afore-stated two minerals was to be paid as          D
under:

  Item No. 22               4% of London metal exchange
  Lead concentrate          metal price on ad valorem basis
                            Chargeable per tonne of                 E
                            concentrate produced.

  Item No. 41               3.5% of London metal exchange
  Zinc concentrate          metal price on ad valorem basis
                            Chargeable per tonne of
                                                                    F
                            concentrate produced.

    9. Thereafter, by virtue of another Notification dated 12th
September, 2000, substituting the Notification dated 11th April,
1997, royalty in respect of the afore-stated two minerals was
payable as under:                                                   G

  Item No. 25               5% of London metal exchange
  Lead                      lead metal price chargeable on the
                            contained lead metal in ore
                            produced.
                                                                    H
    712     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                  [2013) 4 S.C.R.


A    Item No. 50               6.6% of London metal exchange
     Zinc                      Zinc metal price on ad valorem
                               basis chargeable on contained zinc
                               metal in ore produced.

B        10. By virtue of the afore-stated Notification dated 12th
    September, 2000, the manner in which the royalty was to be
    calculated had been changed.

       11. Formerly the royalty was to be charged on the basis
  of mineral concentrate produced but by virtue of the Notification
C dated 12th September, 2000, royalty is now to be charged on
  ad valorem basis on the contents of metal found in the ore
  produced.

         12. According to the appellant-State, the respondent-lease
0   holder was supposed to pay the royalty on the entire mineral
    extracted from the earth and accordingly the impugned notices
    were issued to the respondent for recovery of difference of
    royalty.

       13. On the other hand, the case of the respondent-
E company was that the royalty was chargeable only on the
  contents of lead and zinc metal in the ore produced because,
  by virtue of the Notification issued in 2000, the respondent-
  company was supposed to pay royalty only on the contents of
  lead or zinc, as the case may be, contained in the ore produced.
F
       14. As stated hereinabove, the demand made by the
  appellant-State under the impugned notices had been upheld
  by the revisional authority but the same had been quashed by
  the High Court when the order of the revisional authority was
G challenged before the learned Single Judge of the High Court
  and the view of the learned Single Judge had been upheld by
  virtue of the impugned order passed by the Division Bench.

        15. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant-State
    submitted that the High Court committed an error in interpreting
H
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC 713
         LTD. & ANR. [ANIL R. DAVE, J.)
provisions of the Rule 64A, 64B and 64C of the Rules read             A
with the Notification dated 12th September, 2000 issued by the
Central Government.

     16. The sum and substance of the submissions made by
the learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant was that       B
the royalty ought to have been charged on the basis of the metal
contained in the ore produced so as to g~e effect to the
provisions of Section 9 and the Second Schedule to the Act
read with Rules 64B, 64C and 64D of the Rules.

     17. According to the learned counsel, the contention of the      C
respondent, that unless the ores are taken out of the leased
premises, the royalty would not be leviable, is not correct
because processing the ore would also amount to consumption
of the ores and therefore, even if the said ores are not physically
taken out of the leased area, the royalty will have to be paid on     D
the contents of lead and zinc contained in the ore.

     18. He further submitted that the methodology approved
by the High Court would amount to re-writing the provisions with
regard to computation and calculation of royalty.                     E
     19. He further submitted that the amount of royalty
demanded by the appellant-State from the respondent-
company was just and proper and therefore, the order passed
by the High Court be quashed and set aside. So as to
substantiate his submissions, he relied upon the judgment             F
delivered by this Court in State of Orissa & Ors. v. Mis. Steel
Authority of India Ltd. [(1998) 6 SCC 476).

     20. On the other hand, the learned senior counsel
appearing for the respondent-company vehemently supported             G
the reasons given by the High Court whereby the High Court
has held that the respondent-company was not liable to pay
royalty on the tailings as they had not been taken out of the
leased area. Relying upon the judgment delivered in National
Mineral Development Corporation Limited v. State of Madhya            H
    714     SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2013) 4 S.C.R.

A   Pradesh & Anr. [(2004) 6 SCC 281], the High Court had further
    held that as per the provisions of Rule 64C of the Rules; unless
    dumped tailings or rejects are consumed by the lessee, no
    royalty can be collected on such tailings or rejects.

         21. The learned senior counsel appearing for the
8
    respondent-company mainly submitted that the negligible
    contents of lead and zinc contained in tailings, which is not taken
    out of the leased area and which is dumped within the leased
    area, can never be taken into account for the purpose of
    calculating royalty for the reason that according to the
C   Notification dated 12th September, 2000, royalty is to be paid
    in respect of the metal contained in the ore produced and the
    metal which has been left out by way of tailings within the leased
    area would never be treated as metal in the ore produced.

D         22. According to him, the negligible metal contained in the
    tailings, slimes or the rejects can never be the subject matter
    of calculation of royalty as that portion of metal was returned to
    the mother earth by dumping the same in the leased area
    without being taken out of the leased area and that can not be
E   included in the contents of the metal produced.

         23. Upon hearing the learned counsel at length and upon
    perusal of the relevant material and the impugned judgment and
    the judgments referred to by the learned counsel, we are of the
    view that the conclusion arrived at by the High Court is correct.
F
       24. II is pertinent to note that Section 9 of the Act enables
  the appellant-authority to charge royally on the minerals
  extracted by the lease holder from the land given on lease for
  the purpose of mining. The methodology for calculating the
G amount of royalty is determined by the Rules and by the
  Notifications issued by the Central Government from time to
  time.

         25. It is also pertinent to note that prior to issuance of
    Notification dated 12th September, 2000, by virtue of
H   Notification dated 11th April, 1997, royalty was to be calculated
STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC 715
         LTD. & ANR. [ANIL R. DAVE, J.]
on the basis of metal conr.entrate produced by the lease holder        A
whereas in pursuance of Notification dated 12th September,
2000, the method of calculating the royalty has been
substantially changed and in pursuance of the said Notification,
royalty is to be calculated on the contents of lead and zinc metal
in the ore produced.                                                   B

     26. Immediately after the aforestated Notification dated
12th September, 2000 was issued by the Central Government,
provisions of Rule 64 of the Rules had also been amended. By
virtue of the said amendment, Rule 648 and Rule 64C had been
inserted with effect from 25th September, 2000, which read a!'         C
follows:

           "648. Charging of royalty in case of minerals
     subjected to processing.- (1) In case processing of run-
     of-mine is carried out within the leased area, then, royalty      D
     shall be chargeable on the processed mineral removed
     from the leased area.

           (2) In case run-of-mine mineral is removed from the
     leased area to a processing plant which is located outside
                                                                       E
     the leased area, then, royalty shall be chargeable on the
     unprocessed run-of-mine mineral and not on the
     processed product.

             64C. Royalty on tailings or rejects - On removal
     of tailings or rejects from the leased area for dumping and       F
     not for sale or consumption, outside leased area such
     tailings or rejects shall not be liable for payment of royalty;

           Provided that.in case so dumped tailings or rejects
     are used for sale or consumption on any later date after          G
     the date of such dumping, then, such tailings or rejects shall
     be liable for payment of royalty."

    27. In the instant case, we are more concerned with the
provisions of Rule 64C of the Rules. Upon perusal of the said
Rule, it is very clear that unless the tailings or rejects are used    H
    716      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 [2013) 4 S.C.R.


A for sale or for consumption, such tailings or rejects would not
  be liable for payment of royalty.

       28. Moreover, provisions of Rule 64B of the Rules also
  make it clear that in case of processing of run-of-mine, royalty
B shall be charged only on the processed mineral removed from
  the leased area.

       29. The aforestated amendment and Notification dated
  12th September, 2000 clearly denote intention of the
  Government with regard to the calculation of royalty on the
C contents of metal in the ore produced and not on tailings or
  rejects, which are not taken out of the leased area. The
  negligible contents of metal which remains in the mining area
  by way of tailings, slimes or rejects, which are returned to the
  mother earth cannot be said to be the part of metal content in
D the ore produced.

        30. This court in the case of National Mineral
    Development Corporation Limited (supra) has clearly
    observed as under:

E         "Dumped tailings or rejects may be liable to payment of
          royalty if only they are sold or consumed".

       31. From the contents of what has been stated hereinabove
  by this Court, it is very clear that once a portion of the metal is
F returned back to the mother earth, it cannot be said to have
  been extracted or cannot be said to have been taken out of the
  leased area and when the metal which has not been taken out
  from the leased area or which is not contained in the ore
  produced, it cannot be made subject to payment of royalty
G because the lease holder never took out that portion of the
  metal from the earth and therefore, that cannot be said to be
  the part of metal contained in the ore produced.

       32. Though the learned counsel for the State referred to
  the forms in which information with regard to ore received from
H the mines and treated ore was required to be filled up and
 STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. v. HINDUSTAN ZINC717
          LTD. & ANR. [ANIL R. DAVE, J.]
supplied to the concerned Government Authorities by the holder       A
of the mining lease, in our opinion the said information and the
averments are not much relevant because each and every
information required by the Government may not be necessary
for the purpose of calculating royalty. Possibly the information
received from the holders of the mining lease would be for some      B
other incidental purpose or for the purpose of cross checking
the information given by the holder of the mining lease so as
to find out whether the details given by the lease holder on the
basis of which royalty is calculated is correct.

     33. For the afore-stated reasons, in our opinion, we need       C
not refer to the submissions made in relation to the forms
referred to in the Rules.

      34. Upon carefully going through the impugned judgment
and the judgment delivered by the learned Single Judge of the        D
High Court, we find that the courts below did not commit any
mistake in arriving at the conclusion that the holder of the lease
was not liable to pay the amount demanded .under the
impugned notices because, by virtue of Notification dated 12th
September, 2000 read with the relevant Rules, the lease holder       E
is supposed to pay royalty only on the contents of metal in ore
produced and not on the metal contained in the tailings, rejects
or slimes which had not been taken out of the leased area and
which had been dumped into dumping ground of the leased
area.                                                                F
     35. For the afore-stated reasons, we do not find any
substance in the appeal and therefore, the appeal is dismissed
with no order as to costs.

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 1526 OF 2008                                        G

      36. So far as the present appeal is concerned, it has been
filed by Hindustan Zinc Limited as it has been aggrieved by the
directions whereby the matter has been ordered to be remitted
to the mining engineer for re-computing the royalty payable on       H
    718      SUPREME COURT REPORTS                 (2013) 4 S.C.R.


A   lead and zinc contained in the ore produced.

       37. The appellant-company is aggrieved by the afore-stated
  direction because it was never prayed by the State that the
  matter be remitted back to the mining engineer for re-
B computation of the royalty.

       38. The submission on behalf of the appellant-company
  was to the effect that as the entire concentrate has been taken
  out of the leased area and as the quantity of concentrate of lead
  and zinc was very much known, it was not necessary to give
C such a direction because there is no question with regard to
  re-computation of royalty on the basis of metal contained in ore
  produced.

       39. We find substance in what has been submitted because
D the metal concentrate which had been taken out from the leased
  area is known to the parties and therefore, it is not necessary
  to have any further details regarding the ore produced by the
  appellant- company.

       40. We, therefore, quash the afore-stated direction and the
E appeal filed by the appellant-company Is allowed to the above
  effect with no order as to costs.

    B.B.B.                                  Appeals disposed of.


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