Krishna Brick Field vs The State Of Uttar Pradesh And Ors. on 17 May, 1971
5. In State of Punjab v. M/s. Vishkarma and Co. etc., relied upon by Sri Bharadwaj, we find that in paragraph 7 of the judgment, the question as to whether brick-earth is a minor mineral was not disputed. What was urged therein was that it is not any of the mines or minerals covered by Section 41 of the Punjab Land Revenue Act. 1887. Here the question urged stands already settled not only by the decision in M/s. Ram Brick Field (supra), but also by an earlier judgment in Sharma and Company v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1975 All 386, holding that 'brick earth' is a minor mineral within the meaning of Section 3 of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957, and every person would have to pay the royalty for extracting earth for manufacture of bricks. There two clear cut decisions of Division Benches are binding on us, specially when against
the latter decision even the Supreme Court did not grant special leave on 13.10.1986.