HC stays Punjab’s notification for vehicles carrying mining material from outside state

The high court bench of justice AG Masih and justice Alok Jain acted on the plea of a firm, Om Stone Crusher, which had challenged the August 24 notification in this regard

: The Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed the Punjab government’s notification on collection of royalty and penalty from vehicles carrying mining material legally from other states.

HC stays Punjab’s notification for vehicles carrying mining material from outside state

The high court bench of justice AG Masih and justice Alok Jain acted on the plea of a firm, Om Stone Crusher, which had challenged the August 24 notification in this regard.

The court was told that the firm takes the mining material legally from firms in Jammu and Kashmir and after paying all the requisite dues is sometimes ferried into Punjab for its customers in the state.

However, on August 24, the government notified a policy stating that state government would collect royalty and penalty from the vehicles carrying the mined material from other states at entry points.

The amount thus collected will be reimbursed after verification of the receipts with the state from where it was brought. It was argued that the notification is against the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act 1957. The collection of royalty and penalty in Punjab for goods produced outside the state is legally unjustifiable as Punjab lacks jurisdiction against the goods which have been mined outside the state, the counsel for the firm, senior advocate, Ashish Chopra had submitted.

It was further argued that the government has taken the step so that no illegal mining takes place. However, this would put undue burden on the transporter who despite carrying valid documents for transportation would be subject to such an arbitrary action of depositing the amount of royalty and penalty.

The high court, while fixing the next date of hearing for October 18, sought the government’s response and ordered that the collection of the royalty and penalty from the vehicles at the time of entry into Punjab from the other states, where the requisite documents have been produced by the driver of the vehicles, would remain stayed till the next date of hearing.