 bill no 119 of 1970 the coal bearing areas (acquisi tion and development) (amendment and vali- da tion) bill, 1970 a billfurther to amend the coal bearing areas (acquisition and development) act, 1957 and to validate certain acquisitio'/w of land or rights in chover land under the said act bb it enacted by parliament in the twenty"fir&t year of the republic of india as follows:-,,' t, , 1 this act may be called the coal bearing areas (acquisition and short uue development) (amendment and validation) act, 1970 z in section 8 of the coal bearing areas (acquisition and develop-amend-20 of 1867 5 ment) act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), in subment of section (2), for the word 'submit the case fot the decision of the censection 8 tral government together with the record of the proceedings held by him and a report containing his recommendations on the objections", the 10 words, brackets and figures "either make a report in respect of the !and which has been notified under sub-section (1) of section 7 or of rights in or over such land, or make different reports in respect of different parcels of such land or of rights in ot over such land, to the central government, containing his recommendations on the objections, together i, with the record of the proceedings held by him, for the decision of that government" shall be substituted  3 in section 9 of the principal act,-(a) in sub-section (1) ,-amendment ot section 9 ~ (i) after the words "made by it to that effect", the following shall be inserted, namely:-", and different decorations may be made from time to s time in respect of different parcels of any land, or af rights in or over such land, covered by the same notification under sub-section (1) of section 7, irrespective of whether one report or different reports has or, have been made (wherever required) under sub-section (2) of section 8"; 10 (ii) for the words "provided that, where the declaration", the following shall be substituted, namely:-"provided that no declaration in respect of any particular land, or rights in or over such land, covered by a' notification under sub-section (1) of section 7, issued after the com- is mencement of the coal bearing areas (acquisition and development) (amendment and validation) act, 1970, shall be made after the expiry of three years from the date of the said notification: provided further that, where a declaration"; (b) in sub-section (2), for the words "the declaration", the words "every dec'lal'ation" shall be substituted amend-4 in section 13 of the principal act, after sub-section (5), the folment ot lowing sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-section 13 ii (5a) in determining the amount of compensation for any land 2$ acquired under section 9, any increase to the value of the other land of the person interested, likely to accrue from the use to which the land acquired will be put shall not be taken into consideration", 5 in section 14 of the principal act, after su'b-section (7), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely: -30 amendmentor section 14 "(8) the tribunal, in the proceedings before it, shall have' ad the powers which a civil court has whue tryfng a iiilit under ttie code of civil procedure, 1908, in respect of the following matters, namel1'!-- of 1808 (i) eummoning and enforcing the attend8nee of any person and examining him on oath; 3' (ti) requiring the discovery and production of ally document; (iii) reception of evidence on affidavits; (iv) requisitioning any public record from any court or office; and (v) issuing commissions for ~xamination of wttnesses"  in section 17 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), for the second amend  proviso, the following provisos shall be substituted, namely: _ ment of section 17 "provided further that every person who claims to be an interested person (whether such person has been admitted to be in-s terested or not) including the person referred to in the preceding provijo hall be entitled to prefer a claim for compensation before the tribunal: provided also that no pcr::;on who has received the amount other-'wise than under protest shall be entitled to prefer any such claim 10 before the tribunal" 7 after section 18 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:-is insertion of new sectior 18a payrrent to-state governments in lieu of royalty 20 uj8a notwithstanding anythine contained in this act, where iii1y land or any rights in or over limd belonging to a state government (dther than the ri,hts under a mining lease granted or deemed to have beeb granted by the state government to any person) vest in the central government under section 10 or in a government company under section u, the central government or the compad7, as the case may be, may pay to the state government such sum of mone), as would have been payable ,as royalty by a lessee had iiich land or ri,hts been under a minin, lease granted by the state governdjellt " -  (1) notwithitanding any judgment, decree or order of an~ court validatio!l to the qcmtrary,--'  - of certain acquisitiolul, (a) no acquisition of land or 'of rights in or over land made or purporting to have been made under the principal act before the c:ommenoement of this act, and no action taken or thing done (including any order made, agreement entered into or notification published) in connection with such acquisition shall be deemed to be invalid or ever to have become invalid merely on the ground-(i) that one or more competent authorities have performed the functions of competent authority under the principal act in respect of the land covered by the same notificati'on under subsection (1) of section 7 of the principal act; 35 (ii) that one or more reports have been made under subsection (2) of section 8 of the principal act, whether in respect of the entire land covered by the same notification under subsection (1) of section 7 of the principal act or rights in or over such land, or in respect of different parcels of such land or of fights in or over such land; (iii) that one or more declarations have been made under section 9 of the principal act in respect of different parcels of the land covered by the same notification under sub-section (1) of section 7 of the principal act or in respect of rights in or over such land; (b) any acquisition in pursuance of any notification issued under sub-section (1) of section 7 of the principal act before the commencement of this act may be made after such commencement and no such acquisition and no action taken or thing done (including any order made, agreement entered into or notification puwshed) whe-s ther before or after such commencement, in connection with such acquisition shall be deemed to be invalid merely on the grounds re ferred to in clause (a) or any of them (2) notwithstanding anything contained in clause (b) of suh-lection (1), no declaration under section 9 of the principal act in respect of any 10 land, or rights in or over such land, which has been notified before the commencement of this act, under sub-section (1) of section 7 of the principal act, shall be made after the expiry of two years from the commencemen t of this act (3) where acquisition of any particular land (not being acquisltioll of 's richts in or over such land) covered by a notification under sub-sec:tioa (1) of section 7 of the principal act, issued before the c:ommencement of this act, is or has been made in p~uance of any declaration under section 9 of the principal act, whether made before or after such commencement, and such declaration is or has been made after the expiry 20 '1[ three years from the date ,of issue of such notification, there shall be illd simple interest, calculated lit the rate of six per centum per annum on tile market value of such land, as determined under sub-seetiod (5) 01 sedion 13 of the principal act, from the date of expiry of the sald period of three years to the date of tender of payment of compensation 25 (ayali;l~ foi the acquisition of such land: provided that no such interest shan be payable for any period during - which the proceedings for the acquisition of any land were held up on  account q'f stay or injunction by order of· a court: provided further that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to the 30 acquisition of any land where the amount of compensation has been paid to the persons interested before the commencement of this act the coal bearing areas (acquisition and development) act, 1957 (20 ~f 1957) (herem after referred to as the coal bearing areas act) provides ~nter ~hq for the acquisition by the central government of virgin lands, mcl1lclilli wldergrowld minerals, or rights in or over such lands under' t~e explana:cion to clause (a) of sub-section (5) of section 13, which provides that the value of any minerals lying in the land will not be taken into consideration in determining the market value of any land, no compensation is payable to the state governments in respect of the underground·minerals which also vest in the central government when the land is acquired by the central governmept the state governments have been representing from time to time that this results in their being deprived of large sums by way of revenue the central government has considered the representations of the state governments and ha::r decided that the state governments should be paid purely on an ex-gratia basis such sums a$ they would have been entitled to receive by way of royalty, had mining leases been granted in respect of the areas acquired it is now proposed to amend the coal bearing areas act to make such paym'ents obligatory 2 sections 4 to 9 of the coal bearing areas act deal with the pr0cedure for acquiring coal bearing areas ~der the act briefly stated, the procedure envisages a preliminary notification respecting intention ot the government to prospect for coal on land in any locality, a second notification of the intention of the government to acquire the whole or any part of the land or any rights in or over the land after satisfying itself that coal is obtainable therein and a declaration, after considering objections to "the second notification, that the land or any rights in or over the land should be acquired this procedure is for all material purposes similar to the procedure provided under the land acquisition act, 1894, as it· stood before it was amended in 1967 the supreme court had, in state of madhya pradesh vs vishnu prasad sharma, air 1966 sc 1593, held that under the relevant provisions of the land acquisition act, it was not permissible for government to acquire by stages any land in respect of which it had notified its intention to acquire the land acquisition act was am'ended,in 1967 to overcome the effect of the decision of the supreme court and to render possible acquisition of land by stages as also to validate such acquisitions made in the past under the coal bearing areas act also acquisition of land has been made by stages in several cases in the past and it wowd be convenient if government has the pow~ to acquire· land by stages because that would 'enable government to acquire only 10 much of the land as it may be in a position to exploit without delay and leave the remaining land with the owner till such time as the governnl'ent is iri a position to exploit the same it is, therefore, proposed,to amend the coal ,bearing areas act on the same lines on which the land acquisition (alnenc:tment and validation) act, 1967, amended the land acquisittad act 1894 and also to validate past acquisitions of land , , 3 it is proposed to avail of the present opportunity to make certain crther amendments to remove lacunae disclosed during the actual workinl of the coal bearing areas act these amendments are-(a) for provicling (on the same lines as the sixth clause of section 24 of the land acquisition ad, 1894) that any inerease to the value of the other land of the owner likely to accrue from the use to which the land acquired will be put shall not be taken into consideration in 881~ the compensation payable under aection 13 of the act; (b) for investing the tribunal, constituted under section 14 of the act fot' detemrining compensation payable in any cue, w'fth pflwei'b til - etril co'dl'tin respect of matters like summoning and enforcmg·u attendance of any person and examining on oath, etc; and (c) for enabling every person who elaims to be penon ~ in cempensation (not being a person who hu received tbealqllu,d& othetwiae than wlder protest), to prefer an application before the tribunal 4 thie bill seeks to achieve the above objects new da;m; tm ltth awgast, 1970  pnstoen't's recommmdation unm!r arttcle 117 of the constitutton of india(c~y of lette!' no c3-0(1) 17opt, dated 'the 6th nov8lllberr l97t 1rma shrt :hititaj sfngh chanei'iuify, minister &f state·in the mtaiatey ofpeta leum imd che~ mld mines and metals to the seuetuy lok ~naa ~ thepftsd~ havide ee lnfonned of t1ie aubj8ct matler of the but farther to ameaa ule coal bearing areall  ,acquisition and developme~) act, 1967 iud to 'falidate eutain acquiaitiona of land or ri,glata in or over l8iiij 1u1derthe sakl aet, ·:reeommedds introductiollof ute bid in t1ae lok sabha under clause (j)of article 117 and its consideratiol1 under clau8e (3) of article 117 of the constitution -clause 7 of the coal bearing areas (acquisition and development) (amendment and validation) bill, 1970 envjsages payment 01 ~yalty to state government concerned in respect of coal and other minerals removed and despatched from areas not held under any third party rights acquired under the coal bearing areas (acquisition and development) act, 1957 the provision regarding payment of royalty will not in practice, involve any expenditure from the consolidated fund of india as such expenditure would be met from its revenues by the national coal dwe10pnwnt corporation to whom the acqulr«l land ii tl'ulsferreci for explcttattojl 2 cjauae 8 of the bill also provides for certain procedural changes oil the lide of the land acquisition (amendment and validation) act, 196'1 in particular, in <:8181 of acquisition of land, where declaratian under aeotim 9 il or hu been made after the expiry of three years from the date gf issue of notification under sub-section (1) of section 7, provisiojl hal bean made for payment of simple interest at 6 per centum per annum on the market value of land acquired, calculated from the date of expiry of three years after the issue of notification to the date of tender of payment of compensation the bill, if enacted, will involve a non-recurring expenditure from the cmlsolidated fund of india in respect of the payment of interest charges under clause 8 (3) presently, there are three such cases in which interest to the extent of rs 223 lakhs will become payable there are a few more cases which would involve interest payment but the amount cannot be worked out precisely as it would depend upon the aizlount of compensation that may beceme payable under section 13 (5) of the principal act the compensation andlor interest will initially be paid frq1!l the consolidated fund of india and later recovered from the national coal development co'rporation to whom the land has beenlwill be transferred for exploitation 3 apart from the above payments, the bill does not involve anf other recurrini or non-recurring expenditure  ,extracts nom the coal bearing areas (acquisition ~ development) act, 1957 (20 01' 1957) '" '" '" '" '" _' t  8(1) " objections to acqui8i-uod !", - '" '" '" '" '" '" i:' (2) every object1onunder sub-section (1) shall be made totbe coieqro petent authority in writing, and the competent authority shallgi've,~ objector an opportunity of being heard either in person or by a legal practitioner and shall, after hearing all such objections and after making wch further inquiry, if any, as he thinks necessary,'submit,tbe cas'e·jor th decision of the central government together with the record of, the: proceedings held by him add a report containing his recommendations on'the obj ectiotlll; - - '" '" '" '" declaration of acquisition •• ,(1) when the central government is satisfied, after corisideriilg the report, if any, made under section 8 that any land or any rights in or over such land should be acquir'ed, a declaration shall be made by it ~ that effect:   provided that, where the declaration relates to any land or' to  any rights ir or over land belonging to a state government which has or have nqt been leased out, no, such declaration shall be rnade exc~t after~ consultation with th'e state government   (2) the declaration shall be published in the offici~)i gazette, :~d~  i <~) - '" '" - - '"  a copy of every such declaration shall be sent to the state government c6neerned - - - - - - - 17 (1) - - - - iii iii payment of compensation (2) if the persons interested entitled thereto shall not consent to receive it or if there be any dispute as to the sufficiency of the amount of compensation or the title to receive it or he apportionment thereof, the central government shall deposit the amount of compensation with the tribunal: provided that any person admitted to be interested may receive such payment under protest as to the sufficiency of the amount: provided further that no person who lias received the amount otherwise than under protest shall be entitled to take any matter under this act before the tribunal a bill further to amend the coal bearing areas (acquisition and development) act, jrfi' and to validate certain acquisitions of land or rights in or over land udder the said act (shn nitiraj s'ngh chaudhary, minister of state in the ministry of petroleum and chemicals, and mines and metals 