SHRIKRISHNADAS TIKARA Vs. STATE GOVERNMENT OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, by special leave, raises only a few points of law, although the stakes, counsel states, are substantial.

(2.) The appellant had a mining lease stretching over a period of 20 years from the respondent State of Madhya Pradesh. The grant of such licences is governed by the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and the rules framed thereunder. In particular we are concerned with Rs. 27 (5) framed by the Central Government in exercise of its powers under S. 13.

(3.) Right at the outset we may re-produce the relevant rule: