TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2002 (11) TMI 790
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ixed connotation and the same has to be understood in different contexts under different set of circumstances. The decision of this Court in The Fruit & Vegetable Merchants Union v. The Delhi Improvement Trust (AIR 1957 SC 344) lends concurrence to the same. It is in this context a later decision of this Court (Dr. M. Ismail Faruqui, etc. v. Union of India & Ors. : AIR 1995 SC 604 at 645) ought also to be noticed, wherein this Court stated : "The vesting of the said disputed area in the Central Government by virtue of Section 3 of the Act is limited, as a statutory receiver, with the duty for its management and administration according to Section 7 requiring maintenance of status quo herein under sub- section (2) of Section 7 of the Act. The duty of the Central Government as the statutory receiver is to hand over the disputed area in accordance with Section 6 of the Act, in terms of the adjudication made in the suits for implementation of the final decision therein. This is the purpose for which the disputed area has been so acquired. The power of the courts in making further interim orders in the suits is limited to, and circumscribed by, the area outside the ambit of Sect....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ceedings under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 against the Oriental Coal Company Ltd. and individual occupants of buildings. A written objection by way of show cause before the Estate Officer praying for staying of further proceedings considering the pendency of the aforesaid Writ Petition, was filed but the Estate Officer, however, rejected the said prayer for stay and fixed the date of hearing some time thereafter. It is on the wake of this factual backdrop, the Writ Petition was amended by the Respondent No.1 with a further prayer for quashing of the aforesaid proceedings under the Act of 1971. The learned Single Judge of the High Court recorded that since the Secretaries of the Company were the owners of the properties in question and not the coal company and since the former did not possess any coking coal mine, the properties belonging to them cannot be taken possession of. The learned Single Judge in fine observed : "But the said term should be read, viewed and considered in the perspective of the provisions of the said 1972 Act, which as mentioned above, deal with coking coal mines or coke oven plants and is further subject to the exten....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....teria to each other. It is on this backdrop, this Court observed : "26. The two key words for the purpose of interpreting Section 3 are 'mine' and 'owners'. If we look at the definition of a 'mine' under Section 2(h), the definition is designed to cover : (1) all properties "belonging to the mine" whatever be the nature of these properties, as also specified properties "belonging to the owner of the mine". Thus, for example, Section 2(h)(xii) is an omnibus clause which covers all fixed assets, moveable and immovable, belonging to the owner of a mine wherever situate and current assets belonging to a mine whether in its premises or outside. Section 2(h)(viii) covers all coal belonging to the owner of the mine. Section 2(h)(x) covers all lands, buildings and equipment belonging to the owners of a mine, and in, adjacent to or situated on the surface of the mine, where washing of coal or manufacture or coke is carried on. (2) In addition, the definition of 'mine' also covers all those assets which are required for a proper functioning of the mine irrespective of whether these assets 'belong' to a mine or not. Thus, ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....onstruction that the legislature uses the words and expressions knowingly and upon proper appreciation of its connotation. In that view of the matter the expressions "used for the purpose of the mine" cannot but only mean user simplicitor. Substantial user cannot be imported in clause (vi) as is apparent in clause (vii). To contend otherwise or to hold otherwise would be in our view a violent injustice to the legislative intent and contrary to well settled principles of interpretation and construction of statutory provisions. 7. The other aspect of the matter is in regard to the ownership of the weighbridge. Mr. Mitter contended that the owners of the Mehra Collieries had no right, title or interest in respect of the weighbridge and the same did not vest in the Central Government under the Nationalisation Act since the same did not belong to any coal mine nor being owned by the owners of the coal mine. Our attention was drawn to the Schedule to the Act of 1973, in particular serial no.250, which provides that the Mehra Collieries at all material times was being owned by one Raghu Nath Agarwal but the weighbridge on the other hand was being owned by Valley Refractory, a ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....iterating the aforesaid that the properties were being used for purposes other than the coking coal mines and belong to M/s Karam Chand Thapar & Bros. Pvt. Ltd. In the counter-affidavit, however, filed before the High Court surprisingly there is no denial or a positive case made out as regards the doctrine of user. It is on this score Mr. Rohtagi in his usual fairness submitted that neither the notice nor the counter-affidavit relate to anything but the statutory language without any factual support and if we may say so, no exception can be taken to that. The counter as also the notices stand delightfully vague as regards the factual support. The letter of objection to the notice spoken of earlier categorically recorded as follows : "That your Petitioner submits that the properties in question comprise R.S. Plot No.2808, 2887, 2833, 2834 and 5826 of Village Bagenia (Barkar), P.S. Kulti which correspond to C.S. Plot Nos, 2096, 2112, 2110, 2121 and 2144 of the same will formerly belong to Maharaj Kumar Somendra Chandra Nandi of Cossimbazar Estate and your Petitioner by a Registered Indenture of Lease dated 24th March, 1955, took lease of the aforesaid properties for a period o....