Prabir Kumar Samanta, J. - (1.) Once again question has been raised in this writ petition as to whether 'silt' is a minor mineral and consequently Royalty and Cess can be charged under the provisions of West Bengal Minor Minerals Rules, 1973 for manufacturing bricks using silt.
(2.) The subject matter of challenge in this writ petition is the notice of demand for Rs. 1,37,558/- made by the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer, Bally-Jagacha, which is as under:- Take notice that you are liable to pay to the Government for the sum of Rs. 81,763/-on account of royalty for 1995-96 and Rs. 55,795/- on account of cesses for the years 1993-94, '94-95 and 1995-96. If you do not pay the amount Rs. 81,763/- + Rs. 55,795/- = Rs. 1,37,558/- within 7 days a certificates will be made against you, and the cost of executing the same will be levied from you according to law.
(3.) Mr. Swadesh Bhusan Bhunia, learned senior advocate in moving this writ petition challenged the authority to issue such notice by contending that both this Court and the Supreme Court in several cases such as (1985) 89 CWN 414 (Chandeswar Prosad Singh v. Sub Divisional Land Reforms Officer, Barrackpore) , 1992 (1) CHN 352 (Kartick Chandra Roy v. State of West Bengal) , AIR 1991 Supreme Court 1678 (M/s. Orissa Cement Ltd. v. State of Orissa) and 1996 (5) Supreme Court Cases 670 (P. Kannadasan v. State of T.N.) have held that State Laws imposing cess and other taxes on minerals are beyond the legislative competence of the State Legislature.;