Supreme Court - Daily Orders
M/S. Planet Steel Pvt. Ltd. vs The State Of Haryana on 10 April, 2018
Bench: Madan B. Lokur, Deepak Gupta
1
ITEM NO.28 COURT NO.4 SECTION IV-B
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).19619-19620/2017
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 02-06-2016
in CWP No. 19549/2015 and order dated 07-04-2017 in RA No. 224/2016
passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh)
M/S. PLANET STEEL PVT. LTD. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
THE STATE OF HARYANA & ORS. Respondent(s)
WITH SLP(C) No. 32408/2016 (IV-B)
(WITH APPLN.(S) FOR PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS)
Date : 10-04-2018 These matters were called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MADAN B. LOKUR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Mukul Rohtagi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Narender Hooda, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Vikas Saharam, Adv.
Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR
Mr. Devashish Bharuka, AOR
Ms. Anu Tyagi, Adv.
Ms. Sejal Agarwal, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Anil Grover, AAG
Mr. Noopur Singhal, Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
It is submitted by learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State of Haryana that the area auctioned for mining purposes was 558.53 hectares. Actually, what Signature Not Verified was available for mining was 141.76 hectares. He says Digitally signed by MEENAKSHI KOHLI Date: 2018.04.11 17:13:10 IST Reason: that on the basis of instructions given to him by Mr. R.K. Sharma, Mining Engineer of the Government of Haryana.
2This submission is also confirmed from the response given to an application made under the Right to Information Act, which appears on pages 531 to 535 of the paper book.
It is under these circumstances that the petitioner refused to take possession of the area sought to be auctioned.
Learned counsel for the State of Haryana refers to Clause 5 of the terms and conditions of the auction and submits that it was the duty of the petitioner to ascertain whether the land was actually 558.53 hectares or not. Clause 5 of the terms and conditions reads as follows:
“5. All prospective bidders are expected and presumed to have surveyed the areas to make their own assessment for the potential of the areas for which bids are to be offered. The State Government shall not be responsible for any kind of loss to the bidders/contractors at any point of time (before or after grant of contract). Further the bidders are also expected to have gone through the terms and conditions of auction notice and also the applicable Acts and Rules for undertaking mining.” On a plain reading of Clause 5, it is quite clear that there is no requirement on the prospective bidder to survey the area for the purpose of measurement. The prospective bidder can make an assessment for the potential of the area for which bids are to be offered. 3
It is the duty and responsibility of the State to ensure that the area sought to be auctioned for mining purposes is as per the advertisement.
This view has also been taken by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case of M/s. Haryana Royalty Company Vs. State of Haryana & Anr. [CWP No.15431 of 2014] decided on 15th January, 2015. The admitted position is that this decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has attained finality.
It is, therefore, incorrect to contend by the State that the sole responsibility for measuring the area sought to be auctioned for mining purposes was that of the petitioner.
Consequently, we are of the view that the decision of the High Court is required to be set aside and the petitioner is entitled to the refund of the deposited amount. This amount may be refunded to the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today along with interest at 9% per annum from the date of deposit till the date of payment in view of the vast discrepancy of the area of the land mentioned in the advertisement and the area made available.
The special leave petitions are disposed of. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of.
(SANJAY KUMAR-I) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
AR-CUM-PS COURT MASTER