TMI Blog1966 (10) TMI 154X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... record has been rejected. The facts leading to this appeal are as follows. Jairam Jagmal originally held a perpetual lease from Chimanlal Chandulal Jani and others, inamdars and owners of the mineral rights for excavating white clay from the area leased and for taking it away. The lessors entered into an agreement for executing the perpetual lease, on December 2, 1939. They did not, however, execute the lease, though possession over the leasehold land had been delivered to the said Jairam Jagmal after the execution of the agreement. Ultimately, the lease was executed on November 3, 1951, in execution of a decree of a Civil Court for the specific performance of the agreement to lease. The original lessee, Jairam Jagmal, transferred his right, title and interest in the lease to the appellant in 1954. On September 29, 1960, the Controller of Mines, modified the terms of the lease after following the procedure laid down for modifying the lease under the 1956 rules which continued to be in force in view of s. 29 of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957, hereinafter called the 1957 Act. The modifications were that the period of the lease was r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g the following terms. After noting the boundaries, it states: The land bearing the above boundaries admeasured about 2 bighas and is Kharaba . Out of this land wehereby give lease to excavate white clay (Khadi) and to take the same away on the following terms. This is a clear statement about the giving of the lease of the land for excavating white clay. Term No. 2 deals with royalty to be paid. The various terms thereafter use expressions like leasehold land , during the period of this lease , after the period of the lease is over , any portion of the land leased and about terminating the lease etc. Term No. 17 is: Pursuant to this agreement, we will execute the proper lease and you will have to incur all the expenses in respect thereof. Term No. 19 is also significant and is: In case from this date continuously for three years you do not excavate and thus you do not pay royalty to us, then in that event this Agreement is at an end and this is clearly understood. However, if you do excavate for three years and afterwards you do not again do the work in the fourth year, then it is clearly understood that the Agreement will continue permanently on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r.10 provides that in determining the compensation payable under the rule, the Controller and the Tribunal will have regard to the fact that no compensation shall be payable in respect of the reduction of the period of the lease or any modification in the amount of royalty. It is therefore that no compensation had been allowed or had been paid to the appellant for the modification in his lease with respect to the reduction of the period of the lease from perpetuity to 25 years and the royalty being payable in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Article 31A(l)(e) provides: Notwithstanding anything contained in article 13, no law providing for the extinguishment or modification of any rights accruing by virtue of any agreement, lease or licence for the purpose of searching for, or winning, any mineral or mineral oil, or the premature termination or cancellation of any such agreement, lease or licence, shall be deemed to be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with, or takes away or abridges any of the rights conferred by article 14, article 19 or article 31. It is said that the lease in favour of the appellant is not for the purpose of merely winning t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nterest that the Union should take under its control the regulation of mines and the development of minerals to the extent thereinafter provided. We are therefore of opinion that the expression winning in art. 31A(1)(e) be construed to mean getting or extracting minerals from the mines and other incidental purposes . Our attention has been drawn to the use of the word winning along with other expressions necessary for the proper working of a mine in the Acts and Rules, and it is urged that the word winning has been there used in a narrow sense. In the context of the Acts and Rules, the Legislature or the rule-making authority had to use all possible expressions for the purposes of the mining leases so that all conceivable types of mining leases could be covered by the provisions of the enactment and the rules. Mining lease , according to s. 3, cl. (d) of the 1948 Act, means a lease granted for the purpose of searching for, winning, working, getting, making merchantable, carrying away or disposing of minerals or for the purposes connected therewith and includes an exploring or a prospecting license. The definition is very comprehensive and is with the object i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Amendment deleted entries Nos. 33 of List I and 36 of List 11 which dealt with acquisition and requisition of property and the Central Legislature could legislate in this regard for the purpose of the Union only. The Amendment Act substituted an entry for item 42 of List Ill. The substituted entry was acquisition and requisitioning of property . Besides these entries, entry No. 54 of List I was Regulation Of mines and mineral development to the extent -to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest. The 1956 rules were made in connection with the regulation of mines and for the development of minerals and the Central Legislature was competent to provide for the making of such rules by the 1948 Act. The rules do not come within the field of acquisition and requisitioning of property. We do not consider this contention for the appellant to be sound. It has been contended that the Legislature was not competent to make a law providing for the property of an individual to be given to another and that therefore the 1956 rules were void. The objection really is that the modificati ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ayak((I A.I.R. 1951 Bom. 440.). In that case s. 58 of Act XXXI of 1950 repealed Ordinance No. XXVII of 1949 and provided as follows: The repeal by this Act of the Administration of Evacuee Property Ordinance 1949 (XXVII of 1949) shall not affect the previous operation thereof, and subject thereto, anything done or any action taken in the exercise of any power, conferred by or under that Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken in the exercise of the powers conferred by or under this Act, as if this Act were in force on the day on which such thing was done or action was taken. Section 58 was construed thus: The language used in s. 58 is both striking and significant. It does not merely provide that the orders passed under the Ordinance shall be deemed to be orders passed under the Act, but it provides that the orders passed under the Ordinance shall be deemed to be orders under this Act as if this Act were in force on the day on which certain things were done or action was taken. Therefore the object of this section is, as it were, to antedate this Act so as to bring it into force on the day on which a particular order was passed which is being challeng ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ting from June 1, 1958, when the Act of 1957 came into force, and that its renewal would be regulated in accordance with the law and rules in force when it falls due. The appeal with respect to the other modifications of the lease will stand dismissed. In the circumstances of the case, we direct the parties to bear their own costs. Bachawat, J. We cannot accept the contention that the agreement dated December 2, 1939 is not a lease. The document, though in form an agreement to lease, finally ascertained the terms of the lease, gave the lessee a right to exclusive possession immediately and operated as a present demise. Counsel submitted that in view of the instrument of lease dated November 3, 1951, there was an implied surrender of the lease, if any, created by the document dated March 2, 1939. There is no force in this contention. The lease dated November 3, 1951 was not granted in accordance with the Rules made under the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948 and by s. 4(2) of that Act was void and of no effect. The lease dated December 2, 1939 is the only subsisting lease and could properly be modified by the Controller. The lease was for exc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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