- (1.) THE petitioners in this bunch of twelve writ petitions (C. W. Nos. 1118, 1133, 1180, 1181, 1208, 1225, 1226, 1231, 1238, 1277. 1351 and 1352 of 1974), are either owners or lessees of saltpetre at various places in the State of Haryana. They have challenged the constitutional validity of the Haryana Minerals (Vesting of Rights) Act. 1973 (Haryana Act No. 48 of 1973), (hereinafter referred to as the Act), principally on the ground that the Haryana State Legislature lacked the legislative competence to enact that law. The other grounds raised by the petitioners will be dealt with later on as I purpose to deal with this ground in the first instance. This order will dispose of all the writ petitions.
(2.) THE Act received the assent of the President of India on December 16, 1973, and was published in the Haryana Government Gazette (Extraordinary) dated December 20, 1973. and came into force on that date. The preamble of the Act shows that it has been enacted to vest the mineral rights in the State Government and to provide for payment of amounts to the owners of minerals and for other matters connected therewith. The Objects and Reasons which led to the passing of the Act as published in the Harvana Government Gazette (Extraordinary) dated November 7. 1973 were as under-- "it has been observed that the minerals in the State of Haryana are not being properly extracted due to the granting of haphazard leases/contracts by the Panchayats and other owners of the minerals. To protect the mineral potentialities from the conservation point of view and for its proper development and exploitation on scientific lines, it is essential that the minerals should be properly exploited through one agency. In order to achieve the object in view, it is necessary that the rights to minerals in the lands in the State of Harvana should vest in the State Government"
(3.) "minerals" is defined in Section 2 (b) of the Act to mean minerals and minor minerals as defined in clauses (a) and (e) respectively of Section 3 of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act. 1957, and Section 2 (c) defines "land" to mean land whether assessed to land revenue or not and includes river beds and the sites of buildings and other structures. Section 3 of the Act is in the following words:- "3 (1 ). The State Government may, from time to time, by notification, acquire the right to any minerals in any land and the right to the minerals specified in the notification shall, from the date of its publication, vest in the State Government. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, on the publication of the notification under Sub-section (1), the right to the minerals in the land specified in the notification shall vest absolutely in the State Government and the State Government shall, subject to the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957, have all the powers necessary for the proper enjoyment or disposal of such right. (3) The right to the minerals in the land includes the right of access to land for the purpose of prospecting and working mines and for the purposes subsidiary thereto including the sinking of pits and shafts, erection of plants and machinery, construction of roads, stacking of minerals and deposit of refuse, quarrying and obtaining building and road materials, using water and taking timber and any other purpose which the State Government may declare to be subsidiary to mining. (4) If the State Government has assigned to any person its right over any minerals, and if for the proper enjoyment of such right, it is necessary that all or any of the powers specified in sub-sections (2) and (31 should be exercised, the Collector may, by an order in writing, subject to such conditions and reservations as he may specify, delegate such powers to the person to whom the right has been assigned," Section 4 provides for the payment of amounts to the persons entitled to the right to minerals immediately before their vesting in the State Government under Section 3 of the Act and Section 5 provides for reference to the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction for the adjudication of any objections to the quantum of the amount, the persons to whom it is payable or the apportionment of the amount among the persons entitled. This provision is in similar terms as Sections 18 and 19 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Section 6 makes the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, applicable to all proceedings before the Civil Court under the Act and Section 7 provides for an appeal to the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction where the matter is decided by a Civil Court subordinate to it and to the High Court in other cases. Section 8 empowers the State Government to make rules for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.;