BHARAT COKING COAL LTD Vs. AUROMA COKE LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present appellant herein was the 4th respondent before learned Single Judge in W.P. No.71 of 2010. It would be just and proper to narrate certain facts in order to understand the background in which the appeal is presented. The respondent no.1 before us was the writ petitioner and the 2nd respondent before us is one of the Directors of the 1st respondent. These two writ petitioners approached learned Single Judge challenging the demand of Rs.56,49,836.03 raised by the appellant herein contending that the enhanced rate of washery charges for coking coal at Rs.1,670/ - per metric tonne as against Rs.540/ - per metric tonne with retrospective effect was arbitrary, unjustifiable and not in accordance with any of the agreed terms. Similarly, increased charges towards selective road dispatches was the subject matter of challenge in the writ petition.

(2.) ADMITTEDLY , the writ petitioner is a public limited company having its registered office at Calcutta. After nationalization of coal mines in the year 1973, private sector was not allowed to set up coal washeries. Coal India Ltd. (for short referred to as 'CIL') is the apex company which decides all policy matters on behalf of the subsidiary coal companies. The appellant Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (for short referred to as 'BCCL') is one of such subsidiary of CIL and is also a Government company. The appellant is the only source of raw coking coal from where the writ petitioners and similarly placed industries are getting supply of raw material.

(3.) AFTER nationalization of coal mines, in order to meet the increase demand of low content ash coal by the steel plants, power houses and other industrial consumers, the Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act of 1973 came to be amended by Coal Mines (Nationalization) Amendment Act of 1993. This led to participation of private sector in coal mining as it was encouraged by the Government owing to heavy infrastructural investment required for establishing a washery. This was inevitable as coal mined in India has high content of ash. Unless such ash content was reduced in a coal washery, there was no demand for the same. The low ash content of coking coal required by the industries compelled to import same from other countries which affected the foreign exchange reserve of the country. Therefore, this amendment of 1993 was brought.