TMI Blog1978 (8) TMI 224X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... definition is as follows: Minor mineral means building stones, gravel? ordinary clay, ordinary sand other than sand used for prescribed purposes, and any other mineral which the Central Government may, by Notification in the official Gazette declare to be minor mineral ; In exercise of the power conferred by Section 3(e) of the Act, the Central Government declared the following minerals to be minor minerals Boulder, Shingle, Chalcedony pebbles used for ball mill purposes only, limeshell kanker and limestone used for lime burning, murrum, brick-earth, fuller s earth, bentonite road metal, reh-matti, slate and shale when used for building material; The submission of the learned Counsel for the appellant was that a substance h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ways so as pointed out by Chandrachud, J (as he then was) in Bhagwan Dass v. State of Uttar Pradesh,( [1976] 3 S.C.R. 869.) where the learned judge said (at p. 874): It was urged that the sand and gravel are deposited on the surface of the land and not under the surface of the soil and therefore they cannot be called minerals and equally so, any operation by which they are collected or gathered cannot properly be called a minerals operation. It is in the first place wrong to assume that mines and minerals must always be sub-soil and that there can be no minerals on the surface of the earth. Such an assumption is contrary to informed experience. In any case, the definition of mining operations and minor minerals in section 3(d) and (e) of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... found in the Century Dictionary: as any constituent of the earth s crust ; and that of Beinbridge on Mines: All the Substances stances that now form, or which once formed, a part of the solid body of the earth . Nor do we approximate much more closely to the meaning of the word by treating minerals as substances which are mined as distinguished from those are quarried , since many valuable deposits of gold, copper, iron, and coal lie upon or near the surface of the earth, and some of the most valuable building stone, such for instance, as the Caen stone in France, is excavated from mines running far beneath the surface. This distinction between under ground mines and open workings was expressly repudiated in Midland C. v. Haunchwood ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing. On the other hand, as noticed by the Supreme Court of the United States, in several English cases clay, gravel, sand, stone etc. has been held to be minerals. That is why we say the word mineral has no definite meaning but has a variety of meanings, depending on the context of its use. In the context of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation Development) Act, we have no doubt that the word mineral is of sufficient amplitude to include brick-earth . As already observed y us, if the expression minor mineral as defined in the Act includes ordinary clay and ordinary sand . there is no earthly reason why brick-earth should not be held to be any other mineral which may be declared as minor mineral.. We do not think it necessary t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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