BANARSI DASS CHADHA & BROS. versus LT. GOVERNOR, DELHI ADMN. & ORS.

Citation: [1979] 1 S.C.R. 271 · Decided: 21-08-1978 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: V.R. KRISHNA IYER · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 2 judgment(s) · cites 1 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

., 
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Z71 
BANARSI DASS CHADHA & BROS. 
• 
v. 
LT. GOVERNOR, DELHI ADMN. & ORS. 
August 21, 1978 
[V. R. KIUSHNA IYER, D. A. DESAI AND 0. CllINNAPPA REDDY, JJ.J 
Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957, S. 3(e)-
Brick-earth. whether a minor mineral, within the meaninR of that expression 
'Minor Mineral', as defined ins. 3(e). 
S. 3(e) of the Mines and Mineral (Regulation and Development) 
Act, 
1957 defiues "'Minor Mineral' as meaning building stones, gravel, ordinary 
clay, ordinary sand other than sand used for prescribed purposes, and 
any 
other mineral which the Central Government may, by Notification in the offi· 
cial Gazette declare to be a minor mineral". In exercise of the power con-
ferred by s. 3 (e) of the Act the Central Government declared inter-alia brick· 
earth as a 'minor mineral'. 
Dismissing the appeal by special leave the Court 
HEID : (!) The word 'mineral' has no fixed but a contextual connota-
tion. If 'mineral' is not a term of art it is a word of common parlance, 
capable of multiplicity of meanings depending upon the context. The word 
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ll 
c 
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is occaaionally used in a very wide sense to denote any substance that is 
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neither animal nor vegetable. Sometimes it is used in a narrow sense to mean 
no more than precious metals like gold and silver. Again the word 'minerals' 
is often used to indicate substances obtained from underneath the surface of 
the earth by digging or quarrying, though it is not always so. [273 A-C, 274 Fl 
In the context of the 'Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) 
Act, the 1rord Mineral is of sufficient amplitude to include brick-earth. If the 
expression 'minor mineral' as defined in the Act, includes 'ordinary clay' and 
'ordinary sand', there is no earthly rea.son why brick-earth sbOuld not be held 
to be 'any other mineral' which may be declared as a 'minor mineral'. [275 B-C] 
Rhagwu11 Dais v. State of U.P., [1976] 3 SCR 869, applied. 
Laddu ·Mal v. State of Bihar, AIR 1965 Pat. 491; Amar Modilaf Siugh v. 
State of Haryana, AIR 1972 Punjab <.nd Haryana 356; Sharnia & Co. v. State 
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of U.P., AIR 1975 All. 386 approved. 
State of West Bengal v. Jagdamba Prasad, AIR 1969 Cal. 281; overruled. 
Todd Birlesto11 & Co. v. The North Eastern Railway. Co., [1903] 1 K.B. 
603; qaotcd with approval. 
(2) A substance must first be a mineral before it can be notified as 
a 
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minor n1ineral pursuant to the power vested in the Central Governn1ent under 
s. 3(e) of the Act. 
Brick-earth being a mineral, the Central Government has 
correctly notified it as a 'minor mineral'. [272 G-H] 
272 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1979] I S.C.R. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 
I 278 
Of 
1978. 
Appeal by special leave from the Judgment and Order l 5-11-1976 
of the Delhi High Court in Civil Writ No. 96 of 1971. 
B. Dutta for the Appellant. 
B 
Soli J. Sorabjee, Addi. Sol. General and R. N. Sachthey for Res-
pondents I and 2. 
The Jud~ment of the Court was delivered by 
CHINNAPPA REDDY, J._:_We granted special leave and heard argu-
ments on the limited que<stion whether "brick-earth" is a 'minor mineral' 
within the meaning of that expression as defined in Section 3 ( e) of 
·the Mine<s and Minerals (Regulation a'nd Development) Act, I 957. 
The definition is as follows : 
"Minor mineral' means building stones, gravel, ordinary 
clay, ordinary sand other than sand used for prescribed pur-
D 
poses, and any other mineral which the Central Government 
may, by Notification in the official Gazette declare to be a 
minor mineral;" 
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F 
G 
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In exercise of the power conferred by Section 3 ( e) of the Act, the 
Central Government declared the following minerals to be minor 
minerals : 
"Boulder, Shingle, Chalcedony pebbles used for ball mill 
purposes only, limesbel! kanker and limestone used for lime-
burning, murrum, brick-earth, fuller's earth, bentonite road 
metal, reh-matti, slate and shale when used 
for 
building 
material;" 
The submission of the leamod Counsel for the appellant was that 
a substance had to be a mineral before it could be notified as a minor 
mineral pursuant to the power under Section 3 ( e) of the Mi'nes and 
Minorals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957. 
He urged that 
brick-earth was not a mineral and, therefore, it could not be notified 
a minor mineral. 
We agree with the learned Counsel that a substance musL first be 
a mineral before it ca'n be notified as a minor mineral pursuant to the 
power vested in the

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