CENTRAL COALFIELDS LIMITED Vs. THE COMMISSIONER OF PAYMENTS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) . -Section 26(2) of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 (No. 26 of 1973) provides the power of the Commissioner of Payments as follows :

(2.) It appears from page 58 of the petition that the following order is passed by the Commissioner of Payments :

(3.) Therefore, it appears that there was a doubt in respect of ownership of the said two collieries in the mind of the Commissioner of Payments. In the premises, law provides that the matter is to be referred under Sections 8 and 9 of the said Act to an appropriate Court and make the disbursement in accordance with the decision of the Court. As per explanation in the Sec. 25 of the said Act it is the "Court in relation to Coal Mines means the principle Civil Court of Original Jurisdiction within the legal limits between whose jurisdiction the coal mine is situated". Therefore, the Commissioner of Payments proceeded wrongly as if he is the Civil Court. and determined the doubt or dispute which had to be adjudicated through an appropriate judicial process. Therefore, the order impugned cannot be sustainable.