Madhya Pradesh High Court
M/S Ved Prakash Sharma Thr. vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 13 November, 2017
1
W.P. No. 17049/2017
M/s Ved Prakash Sharma Vs. State of M.P. &
Others
Gwalior, Dated : 13.11.2017
Shri R.B.S. Tomar, learned counsel for the
petitioner.
Shri Raghvendra Dixit, learned Government
Advocate for the respondents/State.
The petitioner is a contractor carrying out the construction of Pubic Works. Petitioner seeks direction to the respondents to issue 'No Mining Dues' certificate qua the royalty. It being not disputed that the issue raised in the present petition has been answered by the Larger Bench in W.P. No. 7798/2017 (M/s Pankaj Kumar Rai Vs. State of M.P. & Others) & W.P. No.11608/2017 (M/s Gurmail Singh Vs. State of M.P. & Other), wherein it is held that:
27. Since minor mineral vests in the State and there is absolute prohibition in extraction of mineral other than by a quarry lease or a trade quarry or permit quarry, therefore, contractor who is engaged in construction work is required to prove that such mineral is royalty paid. For such condition, if the State Government insists on 'No Mining Dues' certificate, the same cannot be said to be illegal as it is to ensure that all minor minerals used in the construction activity are royalty paid material.
28. An affidavit has been filed on behalf of the State Government that the following documents are required in terms of third proviso:-
(i) Copy of the transit passes issued for transportation of total quantity of minerals used in the government 2 construction work.
(ii) Copy of the bills of total quantity of minerals used in the government construction work.
(iii) Copy of the 'work completion certificate' issued by the Government department/Government functionary in respect of work, in which minor minerals have been used.
(iv) Copy of the valid mineral dealer license for use of mineral in government construction work as per Rule 3(2)(iii) of M.P. Mineral (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules 2006.
The affidavit further states that no specific time period for issuing of 'No Mining Dues' certificate is contemplated in the Rules, but, looking to the nature of work, minimum two months time is required by the Mining Officer for completion of said exercise for taking appropriate decision/ passing appropriate orders.
29. We find that the condition No. (iii) that 'No Mining Dues' certificate shall be issued on furnishing of copy of work completion certificate is not reasonable. The contractor, who is engaged in construction work, purchases minor mineral required for construction work. Such running bills require periodical payments as well. The periodical bills raised quarterly, are required to be verified so that the contractor is not deprived of his lawful dues, therefore, instead of obtaining 'No Mining Dues' certificate by the contractor after completion of the work, the Mining Officer shall give 'No Mining Dues' certificate at least quarterly on the basis of running bills submitted by the contractor engaged in the construction work.
30. The third proviso to Rule 68(1) of the Rules provides for issuance of 'No Mining Dues' certificate after verification of the 3 documents submitted by the contractor engaged in construction work. Such documents although are not the part of the Rules but they have been supplemented in the affidavit dated 07.10.2017. The affidavit further states that verification of purchase of mineral from other Districts takes some time, therefore, the State has sought minimum two months time to verify and issue 'No Mining Dues' certificate. We find that to ensure transparency and the digital infrastructure available, the State would be well advised to develop a software, which will give online information of extraction of the minerals by the contractors holding trade quarry or quarry lease or quarry permit. Once that data is available, the Mining Officer of the State can verify how a quantity of extracted minor mineral has been disposed of by each of the category of permit holders. It will create a transparent and also efficient mechanism for issuing certificate of 'No Mining Dues'.
31. In view of the above, we find that the judgment in Phaloudi Construction (supra) is not correct enunciation of law and the same is thus, overruled. The contractors who are engaged in construction work are required to obtain 'No Mining Dues' certificate on production of the documents in terms of this order. Such 'No Mining Dues' certificate shall be issued expeditiously in a time frame of two months till such time alternative mechanism is developed for the issuance of online 'No Mining Dues' certificates.
The present petition is disposed of in the same terms.
(Sanjay Yadav) (S.K. Awasthi)
Judge Judge
Aman