SADBHAV ENGINEERING LTD Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All the three writ petitions raise a common question and are being decided together. For facility, the facts of Writ Petition (Tax) No.337 of 2008, M/s Sadbhav Engineering Ltd. vs. State of U.P. and others, are being taken into consideration.

(2.) The petitioner is a Limited Company and undertakes works contract for different companies. Northern Coalfields Ltd., Sonebhadra (hereinafter referred to as "NCL") has an open cast coal mines and pays royalty to the State Government. Open cast mine is a different method on extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or burrow. This is different from the mining of minerals, which requires tunneling into the earth. Open pit mines are used where deposits of minerals is found near the surface, i.e., where the over burden (surface material covering the valuable deposit) is relatively thin or the material of interest is structurally unsuitable for tunnelling.

(3.) NCL have open cast mines and, consequently, the first primary steps to extract the mineral, namely, coal is to remove the over burden, i.e., the survey material covering the valuable deposits of coal. For this purpose, NCL floated a tender inviting offers from various contractors. The scope of the work was removal of overburden by hiring of equipments such as excavators, tippers, dumpers, etc.