Admin
14 August 2024
The mineral rich states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bengal, MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan will benefit a great deal following the the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court on Wednesday allowing them to collect past dues on royalties from mining companies.
However, since top court has ordered that these states can impose levies with effect from April 1, 2005 and the payments will be staggered in 12 years, the benefits will start pouring on them slowly.
This is more so because the bench has clearly directed these states to not impose a penalty of any kind on payment of dues.
Notably, the Centre had opposed the demand of states for refund of royalty levied on mines and minerals since 1989, saying it will impact the citizens and the PSUs will have to empty their coffers by ₹ 70,000 crore according to initial estimates.
CJI Chandrachud said this verdict will be signed by eight-judges of the bench who by majority decided the July 25 judgement giving the state's power to levy taxes on mineral rights.
He said that Justice Nagarathna will not sign Wednesday's verdict as she had given a dissenting view in the July 25 verdict.
Last month, the Supreme Court upheld state governments' right to levy royalty on mineral-bearing land, reasoning they had the competence and power to do so. The landmark 8:1 verdict was delivered by a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which ruled 'royalty' is not the same as 'tax'; Justice BV Nagarathna delivered the dissenting verdict.
In effect, leaders of the ruling dispensation in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan are reportedly in cheers, as their governments can now charge additional levies on mining companies operating in their territories.
