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2014 (12) TMI 1342 - SC - Indian LawsExtraction/removal of any mineral vested in the State without lawful authority or without a lawful assignment by the State - Held that:- The "ordinary earth" used for filling or levelling purposes in construction of embankments, roads, railways, buildings is deemed to be a minor mineral. It is not in dispute that in the present appeals excavation of ordinary earth had been undertaken by the Appellants either for laying foundation of buildings or for the purpose of widening of the channel to bring adequate quantity of sea water for the purpose of cooling the nuclear plant. The construction of buildings is in terms of a sanctioned development plan under the MRTP Act whereas the excavation/widening of the channel to bring sea water is in furtherance of the object of the grant of the land in favour of the Nuclear Power Corporation. The liability Under Section 48(7) for excavation of ordinary earth would, therefore, truly depend on a determination of the use/purpose for which the excavated earth had been put to. An excavation undertaken to lay the foundation of a building would not, ordinarily, carry the intention to use the excavated earth for the purpose of filling up or levelling. A blanket determination of liability merely because ordinary earth was dug up, therefore, would not be justified; what would be required is a more precise determination of the end use of the excavated earth; a finding on the correctness of the stand of the builders that the extracted earth was not used commercially but was redeployed in the building operations. If the determination was to return a finding in favour of the claim made by the builders, obviously, the Notification dated 3.2.2000 would have no application; the excavated earth would not be a specie of minor mineral Under Section 3(e) of the Act of 1957 read with the Notification dated 3.2.2000. Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
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