Ownership of minerals with owner of land, says SC

NEW DELHI: Ownership of minerals should be vested with the owner of the land and not with the government, the Supreme Court has said. The court said there was no law declaring the state was the owner of mineral wealth.

NEW DELHI: Ownership of minerals should be vested with the owner of the land and not with the government, the Supreme Court has said.

A three-judge bench headed by justice RM Lodha said that there is no law in the country which declares that state is the owner of sub-soil or mineral wealth.

“We are of the opinion that there is nothing in the law which declares that all mineral wealth sub-soil rights vest in the state. On the other hand, the ownership of sub-soil/ mineral wealth should normally follow the ownership of the land, unless the owner of the land is deprived of the same by some valid process,” the bench said.

Referring to various acts regulating extraction of underground natural resources, the bench said that the laws do not anywhere declare the proprietary right of the state.

It rejected the argument that individual owners cannot claim any proprietary right on the subsoil resources as Section 425 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, prohibits carrying out of any mining activity in this country except in accordance with a permit, licence or mining lease.

“The said Act does not in any way purport to declare the proprietary rights of the state in the mineral wealth nor does it contain any provision divesting any owner of a mine of his proprietary rights,” the bench said.

It said that the assertion of government to collect duty or tax is in the realm of the sovereign authority, but not a proprietary right.