RAJENDRA COLLIERIES LTD Vs. COAL CONTROLLER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts in this case are shortly as follows : The petitioner, Rajendra Colliery Ltd., is a sub-lessee of approximately 1570 bighas of coal-bearing land in village Chordhara Thana Ramgarh, District Hazaribagh, in the State of Bihar. The petitioner company obtained a sub-lease from the lessee Messrs, Karanpura Development Co. Ltd., by an instrument of sub-lease dated September 1946. On or about 29th May, 1947 the petitioner made an application for a permit to open a coal mine in the said area as is required under, the Colliery Control Order, 1944. This order was subsequently replaced by the Colliery Control Order, 1945 and paragraph 14 of the said order runs as follows :

(2.) Briefly speaking, the Central Government has the power to constitute a Board called the Coal Control Board and the functions of the Central Government under the Order are exercisable by the Coal Controller with the Government of India, Deputy Coal Controller (Distribution), Deputy Coal Controller (Production) and the Joint Deputy Coal Controller (Distribution). In the application for permission to open a mine, it was stated that the petitioner company had obtained this virgin property from Messrs. Karanpura Development Co. Ltd. and intended to work the same. It was further stated that the property contained Kurse, Simana, Sirka and Argada qualities of coal, and the property had to be developed. It was also stated that the seams of coal were good seams and the geological plan was enclosed. On or about 11th July, 1947 the Deputy Coal Commissioner (Production), which I take it is the same as the Deputy Coal Controller (Production) granted permission under Clause 14 of the Colliery Control Order 1945 to open the 'Rajendra Collieries and Co.' A copy of the permission is annexure 'A' to the petition. According to the petitioner, after the permission was obtained, prospecting work was carried out and a quarry was opened to work the Argada seam near the Damodar river. It was found however that the coal was of inferior quality, and therefore, it was abandoned sometime in 1950. Thereafter, several bore-holes and trial-pits were dug, to find out the location where the quarrying could be resumed effectively. I must mention here that the rules and' regulations appertaining to Collieries, require that immediately after a mine is operated, returns must be filed snowing details of the working and the coal must be graded after due inspection of the authorities. During all this time, the returns made by the petitioner company showed that no coal had ever been raised. It appears from the correspondence that although official inspection was made, no grading was ever done. On or about 16th December, 1955 the petitioner, company made an application to the Coal Board, purporting to be under Rule 39 of the Coal Mines (Conservation and Safety) Rules 1952, for permission to open a coal mine which had been closed for more than six months. A copy of this application is annexed to the petition and appears at pages 12-14. This application clearly shows that the petitioner company had opened up a quarry to work the Argada seam near the Damodar river, but subsequently abandoned it because the coal was found to be of inferior quality. It was stated that the quantity of coal had since been determined by means of several trial pits and bore-holes, and all arrangements regarding planned development of the mine had been completed. It was further stated that the raising will be started as soon as permission to re-open was granted. Copies of the plans that were annexed to the application have been made an annexure to the affidavit of Akhtar Zaman, respondent No. 1, the Coal Controller, affirmed on 3rd February, 1960. These maps clearly show that a quarry was opened near the Damodar river and after its abandonment certain bore-holes were opened, the positions whereof are shown on the maps, as also the location of the 'proposed inclines', which means proposed quarries for Sirka and Simana Seams. These are situated away from the river. The reason why the mining of coal was abandoned has been clearly mentioned in the application and is as follows :

(3.) The provisions of Section 4 of the Act are important and the relevant part is set out below: