LexKALI PADA CHOWDHURY versus UNION OF INDIA
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
JHI
M•vl.
904
St1PRtml: COtIBT REPORTS {1963)
KALIPADACHOWDHURY
!I.
UNION OF INDIA
( B. P. Snnu, C. J., P. B.
GAJ.B:NDBA.GA.DXA.B,
K. SUllB.A R..i.o, K. N. W &NCHOO and
J. C. SHA.H, JJ. )
Mi,.ing R.gu1ation-Mining Boards, OOMUlt.Uion wilh-
Otmatitution of boarda, if obligatory-&gulatiooA maM. toitlwut
oonatituting Mining Boarda-Valiclit!I of- Coal Minu .Regula-
tionA, 1957 tefl. 127 (8)-Mine• Act, 1952 (85 of 1952),
... 12, 69.
"
Section 12 of the Mines Act,. 1952, provides that the
Central Government may constitute a Mining Board for
any part of the territories to which the Act extrndcd or for
any group or clasa of mine·. In 1957 only one mining
board i.e. the Bihar Mining Board was in e:Wtence and
other mining boards were not constituted. Section 57 em-
powers the Central Government to make Regulations. Section
59(3)
as it then stood, provided that before the draft of any
regula'tion was published it should be referred to every Min•
'
ing Board concerned and th~t it ahall not be published uritil
each such Mining Board had had a reasonable opportunity
of reporting on it. The Central Government referred the
draft of the (',oal Mines Regulations to the Bihar Mining
Board which circulated the draft to all .the membera of the
Board and the members communicated their opinions indivi-
dually to the Central Government. Thereafter, the Regu-
lations were duly published and came into force.
The
petitioner's, who were being prosecuted In Bengal for violation
of the Regulations, contended that the Regulations were
invalid as 1 (i) it was incumbent upon the Central Govern-
ment under a. 12 of the Act to constitute all the Mining
Boards and to refer the draft Regulations to all the Boards
before they could be published under s. 59, and (ii) the
communication of opinions by individual members o( the
Blhar Mining Board did not amount to consultation with the
Board within the meaning of s. 59(3).
Held (Per majority, Subba Rao, J., ciiaaeflling), that
the Coal Mines Regulations, 1957, had been duly framed
and publlahed. Section 59(3) merely provided that if a 1
Mining Board was in exiatence at the relevant time it waa
ohlipl«)' Oil lhc CCAtral Government to comwt h before
•
.. •
2S.C.R.
SUPREME (l()UR~ REPORTS
90ti
the draft· Regulation was published. But s. 12 was not
mandatory and it was not obligatory on the Central Govern·
m•nt to constitute any or all of the Mining Boards. There
was nothing in the Act or in the context which justified
reading the word "may" in s. 12 as·"shall". The Mining
Board constituted under s. 12 had to perform two functions,
viz., to make a report in respect of regulations or rules rcferr·
ed to it and to decide cases which may be referred. to it under
s. 81. The .working of the Act 1vas not dependent on the
constituting of Mining Boards, This construction of s. 12
did not render the· provisions of s. 59(3) nugatory. Apart
from consulting the Boards, all parties affected by the draft
had an opportunity to make_ their suggestions or objections
and these had to be considered before t!;e draft was settled
and the regulations were finally made.
Banwarilal Agarwalla v. Stat~ of Bihar, [1962J l S;C.R.
33, explained.
He/,d, further, that the requirement• of s. 59(3) had
been complied with in referring the draft Regulations to the
Bihar Mining Board. All that s. 59(3) required was that a
reasonable opportunity should be given to the Board to make
its report. How the Board chose to make its report, was not
a matter which the C~ntral Government could control.
Per Subba Rao, J.-The Coal Mines.Regulations were
not validly made. The Supreme Court had directly decided
.in Banwarilal v. State of Bihar that the Regulations were bad
as there was no consultation with any Mining Board
under s. 59 (S)
as . the Boards were not in existence.
A fair
construction of ss.
I 2 and 59 ( 3) of . the Act
also showed that if the Central Government wanted to
make regulations under s. 57 it had to appoint Mining
Board• .and to refer the regulations to. them before
publication. If the Central Government wanted to exercise
the power under s. 59 it had first · to exercise the· power
under s. 12. The power to make regulations was coupled
with a duty to consult the Mining Boards, and to dts<ih-
arge its duty it was incumbent upon the Central Govermnent
to appoint the Mining Boards. Apart from this,· the Regul·
atiom is so far
as they purported to regulatExcerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.