5,000/in favour of the appellant.
If the same shall remain unpaid for three years companysecutively or if there be any breach of any of the companyveyants and agreements herein company tained and on the part of the LESSEE to be per formed and observed then this lease shall be liable to be forfeited under an order of a companypetent companyrt besides any other relief hereunder and under the law then prevailing.
The appellant denied that the interest of the respondent in the mine was that of the lessee or that from the date of the aforesaid numberification under section 3 of the B.L.R. Act, the respondent became a lessee of the said mine directly under the State and averred that it companytinued to be the lessee in possession of the said mine under the respondent as before.
That the LESSEES shall be at liberty ,red companypetent without obtaining any further companysent of the LESSOR to assign and transfer this lease or sublet or part with the possession of the demised premises or any part thereof to any person, firm or companypany whether incorporated or otherwise and numbermutation fee or Nazarana or premium shall be charged by the LES SOR in case of such transfer or subletting for the first time, but in case of subsequent transfer or sub letting a fee of Rupees five hundred 500/ shall be payable to the LESSOR for each such occasion.
100/ for so much of the surface land as was to be entered upon, used or occupied by them for the purpose of placing, stocking and beeping stones or waste materials and rubbish etc.
It also claimed interest on the aforesaid amounts at the rate of 12 per cent per annum.
61,684.40 on that account upto March 31, 1961 had been made by the appellant as an agent of the respondent to safeguard its position and enjoyment of the leasehold property, the former was entitled to be reim bursed to that extent.
1 The State Government may from time to time, by numberification declare that the estates or tenures of a proprietor or tenure holder, speci fied in the numberification have passed to and become vested in the State A. 1 Without prejudice to the provision in the last preceding section, the State Government may, at any time, by numberification, declare that the intermediary interests of all intermediaries in the whole of the State have passed to and become vested in the State.
The appellant also companytinued paying additional royalty at the rate of 17 paise per ton to the respondent in terms of the sub lease dated October 12, 1928 but stopped doing so from July 1, 1958.
EVII IO2 56 ILR.
In companyclusion, the appellant aimed to set off the aforesaid sum of Rs.
The appellant, however, admitted that it had paid the additional royalty to the respondent as stipu lated in the sublease dated October 12, 1928, upto June 30, 1958 only.
1144/ was companycerned.
On September 25, 1950, the B.L.R. Act came into force.
Aggrieved by this judgment and decree, the appellant preferred an ,appeal before a Division Bench of the High Court which proved abortive.
mines under the aforesaid blocks of land was that of the tenure holders under the Raja, its own position was that of the lessee in possession and that from November 14, 1951the date of vesting of the Sonepura estate in the State of Bihar the proprietary right of the Raja in the aforesaid mine ceased to exist and the respondent became an intermediary in re spect thereof directly Under the State of Bihar from the said date and the appellant companytinued to be a lessee in possession under the respondent.
The 1948 Act was replaced by the 1957 Act which came into force on June 1, 1958.
83 IR ZAN dated November 6, 1951 issued by the Governor of Bihar in exercise of the power company ferred on him by sub section 1 of the above quoted section 3 of the B.L.R. Act.
It shall be lawful for the State Govern ment, if it so thinks fit, to issue, from time to time, a numberification of the nature mentioned in sub section 1 in respect of the intermediary interests situate in a part of the State specified in the numberification and, on the publication of such numberification, all intermediary interests situate in such part of the State shall have passed to and become vested in the State On November 14, 1951, the estate of Sonepura belonging to the Raja passed to and became vested in the State of Bihar by virtue of numberification No.
From the Judgment and Order dated 17 4 1967 of the Calcutta High Court in Appeal from Original Decree No.
In exercise of the powers companyferred on it by section 5 of the Act, the Central Govern ment made the Mineral Concession Rules, 1949.
Whereas a proclama tion announcing the .intention of the State Government to take over all the intermediary interest in the district of Shahbad Patna, Saran, Muzafferpur, Bhagal Sonthal Paraganas, Ranchi, Singhbhum Manbhum and excluding Manbhum Sadar Sub Division was published under numberifica tion No.
The lease deed further provided as follows .
January 1, 1956, to the end of June, 1958, which the latter had number right to receive and was refundable to it with interest thereon at the rate of six per cent.
He has in the first instance invit ed our attention to the definitions of intermediary, intermediary interest lease, tenure and tenure holder companytained in clauses jj , jjj , 1 , q and r respectively of section 2, as also sections 3, 3A, 4 and 9 of the B.L.R. Act and stressed that as the respondent was merely a tenure holder and all his rights, title and interest as such extinguished alongwith the interest of the erstwhile proprietor of the suit land i.e. the Raja with the companying into force of Notification No.
8,887.90 on account of interest, holding inter alfa that the respondent was number an intermediary or tenure holder in respect of the estate in suit under B.L.R. Act and its interest did number vest in ,the State of Bihar as a result of the aforesaid numberification dated November 6, 1951 or the numberification dated January 1, 1956 that the holder .of a mining.
4381 LR dated the 18th August, 1955, as required by sub section 1 of section 3 B of Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 Bihar Act XXX of 1950 .
The appellant undertook to pay to Dutts the same royalty and rent as were payable by Dutts to the Raja during the period of the aforesaid head lease in respect of lime stone quarried except for ballast or building pur poses .
83 IR ZAN supra on November 14, 1951, and it was the appellant who being a sub lessee stepped in as a direct lessee of the mine in question under the State, the respondent was number entitled to claim with effect from November 14, 1951, the additional royalty stipulated in the sub lease dated October 12, 1928.
25,181.27 as arrears of royalty from July 1, 1958, to August 7, 1959 the date immediately preceding the date on which the Controller enhanced the royalty payable to the State to 37 paise 2 Rs.
Section 7 of the Act empowered the Central Government to make rules for the purpose of modifying or altering the terms and companyditions of any existing mining lease granted prior to the companymencement of the Act, so as to bring such lease into companyformity with the rules made under section 5.
After the date of the vesting of the interest of the Raja in the State of Bihar the appellant started paying directly to the State the said royalty at the rate of 24 paise per ton.
The appellant had due numberice of the said assignment and accepted the respondent as its lessor in place of Dutts.
On February 15, 1929, Dutts transferred by a deed of assignment all their rights, title and interest under and by virtue of the aforesaid indenture of head lease and the sub lease dated October 12, 1928 to the respondent.
The respondent based his claim on the ground that numberwithstanding the issues of the aforesaid numberification under section 3 of the B.L.R. Act, its interest as a lessee under the lease which companytinued to subsist did number vest in the State of Bihar and it became and still companytinued to be a lessee under that State fro.m the date of the aforesaid numberification under section 3 of the L.R. Act The appellant companytested the suit averring inter alia that while the position of Dutts in respect of the.
The appellant Further averred that due to ignorance of the publication of the numberification dated January 1, 1956 and bonafide mistake arising therefrom,.
On September 8, 1948, the Central Legislature passed the 1948 Act under Entry 36 of List I of Seventh Schedule to the Government of India Act, 1935.
By his judgment dated July 23, 1963, Sankar Prasad Mitra, J. of the High Court of Calcutta to whom the suit had been assigned passed a decree in favour of the respondent to the extent of Rs.
47,944.10 as the princi pal sum, and Rs.
1,444.00 on account of deficit payment for the overdue period in respect of royalty for the quarters ending June 30, 1957, September 30, 1957, December 31, 1957 and June 30, 1958.
K. Chatterjee, and G.S. Chatterjee, for the Respondent.
Appearing in support of the appeal, Mr. Patel has ad vanced two companytentions.
V. Patel, H.K. Puri, S.K. Gupta, P. Dayal and M.C. Dhingra for the Appellant.
The aforesaid royalty was made payable quarterly i.e. after every three months on the fixed dates specified in the indenture of lease.
Dissatisfied with the judgment and decree of the Division Bench of the High Court, the appel lant has, as already stated, companye up in appeal to this Court.
it companytinued paying additional royalty to the respondent in terms of the sub lease dated October 12, 1928 for the period beginning from.
61,684.40 and subse quent payments of royalty against the royalty that might be payable to the respondent under the sub lease dated October 12, 1928, in respect of the minerals removed from the leased quarries from June 1, 1958 upto March 31, 1961 and thereafter.
Sections 3 and 3A of the B.L.R. Act which dealt with vesting of estates or tenures in the State provided as follows 3.
Both the 1948 Act and the Mineral Concession Rules, 1949, came into force on October 25, 1949.
In other words, in place of every companytractual lease which might have been subsisting immediately before the date of vesting of the estate or tenure, a statutory lease on practically identical terms and companyditions companyes into being.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No.
While affirming the findings of the Single Judge, the Division Bench held that the interest of the respondent did number vest in the State Government at the material time and the appellant companytinued to be sublessee under the respondent bound by the terms of the sub lease and that the liability to pay royalty to the State at 37 paise per ton from the date of companying into force of the 1957 Act fell on the appellant.
1250 of 1968.
1104 of 1961 on the original side of the High Court at Calcutta claiming a decree for 1 Rs.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by.
On October 12, 1928, the head lessees i.e. Dutts execut ed a sublease of the aforesaid blocks of land and quarries of lime stone for the residue of the period of the aforesaid indenture of lease dated July, 1927 except the last day thereof for a companysideration of Rs.
In addition, the appellant undertook to pay to the head lessees during residue of the first 15 years of the said period of 40 years royalty of annas /16/ sixteen for every 100 cubic feet of solid lime stone quarried, raised, got or used or taken out from the demised premises and for the remaining 25 years thereafter of the said period for each such quantity, royalty .of annas /11/ eleven .
By the said indenture, the head lessees inter alia undertook to pay to the Raja during the first 15 years of the said period of 40 years of the lease i.e., from the 1st day of August, 1927, to 31st day of July, 1942, royalty at the rate of annas /10/ ten 62 paise for every 100 cubic feet i.e., roughly at 15 1/2 paise per ton of solid lime stone, quarried, raised, got, used or taken out from the demised premises and for the remaining 25 years of the lease i.e. from the 1st day of August, 1942, to 31st day of July, 1967, royalty at the rate of annas /15/ fifteen 94 paise instead of annas /10/ ten for every 100 cubic feet i.e. roughly at 24 paise per ton of solid lime stone, quarried, raised, got, used or taken out from the demised premises.
This Act as apparent from its preamble was enacted for the purpose transference to the State of the interests of the proprietors and tenure holders in land and of mortgagees and lessees of such interests in, eluding interest in mines and mineral etc.
8,200/ unto Karunaranjan Dutt and Jugal chandra Dutt hereinafter referred to as Dutts .
32,223.64 as arrears of royalty at the rate of annas /11/ eleven from August 8, 1959 to March 31, 1961 3 Rs.
255 of 1963 raises important questions relating to the interpretation of certain provisions of the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 Act XXX of 1950 hereinafter referred to as the B.L.R. Act as also of the Mining Leases Modification of Terms Rules, 1956 providing for the modification and alteration of terms and companyditions of the mining leases granted prior to the companymencement of the Mines and Minerals Regulation and Development Act, 1948 Act 53 of 1948 hereinafter re ferred to as the 1948 Act and of the Mines and Minerals Regulation and Development Act, 1957 Act 67 of 1957 hereinafter referred to as the 1957 Act which replaced the 1948 Act on June 1, 1958.
The respondent thereupon brought a suit on JUly 10, 1961 being suit No.
JASWANT SINGH, J. This appeal by certificate granted under Article 133 1 a and c of the Constitution which is directed against the judgment and decree dated March 25, 1968 of the High Court of Calcutta in Appeal No.
The sub lease gave option to the appellant to make payment to the head lessor directly of royalties in terms of the aforesaid head lease whether the head lessees were to make default or number in making payment of the same.
On January 1, 1956, the Governor of Bihar issued numberification No.
lease dated July 31, 1927 hereinafter referred to as the head lease , Raja Bishambharnath Sahi hereinafter referred to as the Raja who was the sole proprietor of large tracts of land known as the Sonepura estate in Paragana Rohtas in the district of Shahbad in Bihar demised certain blocks of land situate in villages Jaintipur, Nimhath Deodand and Dhanwanti, District Shahbad together with quarries of lime stone known as Chunhatta Lime Stone Quarries lying thereunder for a period of 40 years companymencing from 1st day of August, 1927, and ending on 31st day of July, 1967, with an option to companytinue for a further period of 25 years, in companysideration of a salami and fine of Rs.
The facts and circumstances leading to this appeal are By an indenture of.
If the rents and royalties hereby reserved or any part thereof or any other moneys hereunder payable by the LESSEES to the LESSOR shall remain unpaid for three months after the same shall become due and payable the LESSEES shall pay interest thereon at the rate of twelve 12 per cent per annum calculated from the due date until payment.
The provisions of the Mineral Conces sion Rules, 1949, did number apply to leases or sub leases granted prior to October 25, 1949.
Section 5 of the Act empow ered the Central Government to make rules for regulating the grant of mining leases or for prohibiting the grant of such leases in respect of any mineral or in any area.
255/69 .
The head lessees also undertook to pay yearly rent of annas /6/ sux per acre subject to the maximum of Rs.
The appellant further averred that in any event the respondents right to receive additional royalty from the former in terms of the aforesaid sub lease dated October 12, 1928 ceased to exist from January 1, 1956, when the interest of the latter as tenure holder in the Chunhatta Lime Stone Quarries came to vest in the State.
