Siddique Areekkan vs The Senior Geologist on 19 December, 2025
35. In Jilubhai46, it was held that the material resources of
community are a wide concept and must be broadly interpreted to
bring within its sweep all resources, natural or physical, movable
or immovable, corporeal or incorporeal, tangible or intangible
properties, etc. It was further held that the mines, minerals and
quarries embedded in the land are material resources of the
community amenable to public use or for distribution. In Property
Owners' Association47, the Supreme Court recently held that there
is no bar on the inclusion of private property as a class, and if a
privately owned resource meets the qualifiers of being a 'material
resource' and 'of the community', it may fall within the net of the
provision. It was also held that the resources, though privately
owned, and inherently have a bearing on ecology and/or the well-
being of the community, will fall within the net of Article 39(b), to
45
K.T. Plantation Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Karnataka, (2011) 9 SCC 1
46
Jilubhai Nanbhai Khachar & Others v. State of Gujarat & Another (1995) Supp.