Efforts on to settle issue of recovery of royalty, tax dues with certain states: Centre to SC
New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it was making efforts to resolve the issue of recovery of royalty and tax dues on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands between it and several mineral-rich states.
The top court meanwhile deferred to April 24 the hearing on subsequent pleas of several mineral-rich states like Jharkhand seeking to recover royalty and tax dues on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands worth thousands of crore of rupees from the Centre and the mining firms.
A special three-judge bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and MM Sundresh and Ujjal Bhuyan said it will decide on the sequence in which the pleas of several mineral-rich states would be heard.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said efforts were on to find a settlement of the issue and the pleas may be listed in the first week of May.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Jharkhand, said a settlement can be arrived at any stage and the hearing should not be delayed.
On July 25, 2024, a nine-judge bench headed by the then Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud (since retired), in a majority 8:1 verdict, had ruled that the legislative power to tax mineral rights vests in states and not Parliament.
In a subsequent order on August 14, the top court clarified that the judgement will not have prospective effect and permitted mineral-rich states recover from the Centre and mining firms the royalty and tax dues on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands worth thousands of crore of rupees since April 1, 2005 over a period of 12 years.
Later, a special bench headed by Justice Oka was set up to resolve the subsequent dispute between several states and the Centre.
