TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2001 (3) TMI 975
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....contended that at the time of scrutiny of the nomination papers the appellant held from the appropriate Government, that of the State of Haryana, five leases for the extraction of major and minor minerals and that, therefore, he was disqualified from contesting the election. The High Court upheld the contention holding that a mining contract or a mining lease is a contract to execute a Government work on behalf of the Government and it is covered under Section 9-A of the Act, the Act being the Representation of People Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act). The High Court set aside the election of the appellant and declared the first respondent duly elected. The judgment and order of the High Court is under appeal by special....
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....opriate Government and it was held that the contention must fail. In Dewan Joynal Abedin Vs. Abdul Wazed Alias Abdul Wazad Miah & Ors. [1988 Supp. SCC 580] the question of disqualification was considered in the context of a contract to collect tolls at a Government ferry run under the Ferries Act. This Court held that an analysis of Section 9-A showed that only in two cases would a person be disqualified if he had entered into a contract with the appropriate Government in the course of his trade or business, which subsisted on the date of scrutiny of nominations; they were (1) when the contract was one for supply of goods to the appropriate Government and (2) when it was one for the execution of works undertaken by that Government. The q....
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....s in the expression execution of any works in Section 9-A was used in the sense of projects, schemes, plants, such as building works, irrigation works, defence works, etc. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the expression work meant a structure or apparatus of some kind; an architectural or engineering structure, a building edifice. When it was used in the plural, that is, as works, it meant architectural or engineering operations, a fortified building, a defensive structure, fortification or any of the several parts of such structures. This Court, therefore, found it difficult to hold that when a person acquired the right to collect tolls at a public ferry under the Ferries Act, he was performing a contract for the executi....
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.... Government. What is in dispute is whether, by reason of the mining leases, the appellant was executing works undertaken by the Government. The contention on behalf of the appellant is that the Government has not undertaken mining operations and the appellant was not carrying out the same for the Government. Learned counsel for the first respondent drew our attention to the meaning of the word undertake in Blacks Dictionary of Law, Fifth Edition. It reads thus : UNDERTAKE To take on oneself; to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; set about; attempt; as, to undertake a task or a journey; and, specifically, to take upon oneself solemnly or expressly. To lay oneself under obligation or to enter into stipulation; to perform or to e....
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....ment under Section 18 is to take steps for the systematic development of minerals in India and for such purpose to make rules. There is no obligation cast upon the Central Government to exploit minerals; the obligation is to ensure that such exploitation as takes place is systematic. Reference was made to the mining leases by learned counsel for the first respondent. Thereunder, the appropriate Government has granted and demised to a partnership firm of which the appellant is a partner the right to win minerals from the areas therein mentioned. Clause 23 thereof, which was relied upon, says that if the lessee does not carry out its obligations under the covenants in the lease the lessor may cause the same to be carried out and performed ....