Minor minerals on river-deposited land remain subject to State lease or permit, with mining rights vested in the State.

Sand, gravel, boulders and bajri deposited by river action on land were treated as minor minerals under the governing mining regime, so extraction could proceed only under a State-granted lease or permit. The U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1951 vested erstwhile zamindari rights in estates and sub-soil, including mines and minerals, in the State, and the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession) Rules, 1963 regulated working of such deposits. The landowner could not claim an unrestricted right to appropriate the deposits or restrain State auction of the mining right. Any interference with surface user was addressed through the compensation mechanism under Rule 67.

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Issues: Whether sand, gravel, boulders and bajri deposited by river action on the appellant's land constituted minor minerals, and whether the appellant could resist the State's auction and mining operations in respect of those deposits.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1951 extinguished the erstwhile Zamindars' rights in estates and in sub-soil, including mines and minerals, and vested those rights in the State. The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 and the Uttar Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession) Rules, 1963 define minor minerals to include ordinary sand, gravel and building stones, and prohibit mining operations except under a lease or permit granted by the State. The deposits left on the land by receding flood waters fell within that definition. The appellant could not assert a right to remove or appropriate them free of the statutory regime, and any deprivation of surface user was protected by the compensation mechanism under Rule 67.

Conclusion: The deposits were minor minerals, the mining right vested in the State, and the appellant was not entitled to restrain the State from auctioning the right to work them.

Ratio Decidendi: Deposits of sand, gravel and similar materials left by river action on private land, when covered by the statutory definition of minor minerals, cannot be mined except under State-authorised lease or permit, and rights in mines and minerals previously held by zamindars stand vested in the State upon abolition of zamindari.

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