BOKARO AND RAMGUR LTD Vs. KATHARA COAL CO LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these three appeals under Section 20 of the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, arise out of an award, dated 16th February, 1961, made by the Tribunal constituted under Section 14(2) of the said Act in Reference Case No. 25 of 1959. They have been all heard together and this judgment will govern all of them.

(2.) The facts leading to these appeals are as follows :-- One Alfred Earnest Michell for and on behalf of an unincorporated syndicate known as the Bokaro Syndicate and one Theobore Hubet Bennerts jointly obtained a prospecting licence on 26th November, 1907 in respect of an extensive area from Maharaja Ram Narain Singh of Padma Estate in the district of Hazari-bagh. The prospecting licence carried with it a right to obtain a mining lease. The licencees assigned the said prospecting licence on the 28th of February, 1908 to M/s. Bokaro & Ramgur Ltd., the appellant in Miscellaneous Appeal No. 99 of 1961. The licence was being renewed from time to time until 1942 in which year M/s. Bokaro & Ramgur Ltd. obtained a renewal for a term of 7 years i. e. upto 1949. During the continuance of the said term, the Raja of Ramgarh, the appellant in Miscellaneous Appeal No. 115 of 1961, granted a mining lease under an indenture of lease, dated 21st November, 1946 (Ext. A-4/2) to M/s. Bokaro & Ramgur Ltd. in respect of coal in and over 3200 bighas of lands situate in five villages in the district of Hazaribagh for a period of 999 years. M/s. Bokaro & Ramgur Ltd., in their turn, executed a deed of sub-lease, dated 14th December, 1946 (Ext. F-1) in the name of Kathar Coal Company Ltd., the principal respondent in all these appeals and the cross-objector in Miscellaneous Appeal No. 116 of 1961. On 3rd June, 1948, M/s. Bokaro & Ram-gur Ltd., further obtained as many as ten mining leases from the Raja of Ram-garh in respect of lands in different villages. Three of those mining leases were in respect of Jhirki Colliery, North Jhirki Colliery and North Kathara Colliery. The total area covered by the aforesaid four mining leases, namely, the one dated 21st November, 1946, and three dated 3rd June, 1948, was in the neighbourhood of 7.725 bighas.

(3.) On the 31st March, 1956, the Government of India, in the Ministry of Production, issued a notification under Sub-section (i) of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, notifying that the land described in the schedule appended to the said notification covering an area of about 7 square miles was needed or was likely to be needed for public purposes, namely, for the prospecting of coal seams for the development of the collieries to be worked by the Union of India, and, invited objections to such acquisition by interested persons. Before, however, any further action could be taken under that Act, the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act of 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) was passed and it came into force on 12th June, 1957. According to Section 28(1) of the Act, the aforesaid notification, under Section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, was deemed to have been issued under Section 4 of the Act. The Act was amended by Act 51 of 1957 by which certain Sections including sections 13 and 28 were amended and Section 9A was inserted. Ultimately, after objections to the proposed acquisition had been disposed of, the Central Government, in pursuance of Sub-section (iii) of Section 28 read with Section 8 of the Act, issued a notification (SRO 3810, dated 23rd November, 1957) under Section 9 of the Act, declaring the acquisition of lands measuring 3,383.29 bighas and of the rights to mine, quarry, bore, dig and search for, win, work and carry away minerals in lands measuring 1392.27 bighas fully described in Schedules A and B respectively appended to the said notification. Possession of lands and rights so acquired was taken on behalf of the Government of India on the 6th of December, 1957, and by virtue of Section 11 of the Act, the same was transferred to the National Coal Development Corporation on the 2nd of January, 1958. The Central Government assessed the compensation for the acquisition of the mining rights at Rs. 15,73,575.81 Ps. which amount was subsequently raised by them to Rs. 17.02,709.60 and the entire amount was deposited in accordance with the relevant rules made under the Act. A dispute, however, arose as to the right to receive that compensation amount, amongst three claimants, namely, (1) M/s. Kathara Coal Company Ltd., (2) M/s. Bokaro & Ramgur Ltd. and (3) Shri Narayan Prasad Kedia. A Tribunal was accordingly constituted under Section 14 (2) of the Act and the aforesaid dispute was referred to the said Tribunal for adjudication. It appears that it was agreed between the different parties including the Central Government which filed its written statement before the Tribunal through the Managing Director, National Coal Development Corporation that the Tribunal was competent to determine the amount of compensation as well as the question of apportionment of the same. The aforesaid reference was registered as Reference Case No. 25 of 1959. Three persons, namely, Raja Bahadur Kamakhya Narain Singh, M/s. Kuju Jarangdih Colliery Co., Ltd., and Shri Puran Mull Kedia were added as parties to the proceedings before the Tribunal at their own instance.