TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (1) TMI 1409
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....r consideration in these appeals is as to whether amended Rule 8(8) of the Tamil Nadu Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as "1959 Rules"), which was amended by G.O. Ms. No. 391 dated 17.11.2000, would have retrospective effect or will become operational prospectively i.e. only from 17.11.2000. The issue has arisen in the following context: 3. In all these appeals the Respondents were granted stone quarrying leases for a particular area some time in the year 1997. At that time, as per amended Rule 8(8) of 1959 Rules, lease could be granted for a period of five years initially and thereafter it could be renewed by another five years. On the basis of this Rule, the Respondents herein in all these appeals were give....
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....istrict in the State of Tamil Nadu in these appeals. 5. In order to have a better and clear understanding of the issue, the seminal facts need to be traversed. They are culled out from Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 3674 of 2010 and are as follows: 6. A notification dated 09.10.1996 was published by the Appellant inviting applications for grant of stone quarrying in Survey No. 99 (Part) quarry No. 5 for an extent of 5.00.0 hectares in Karapakkam Village, Chengalpattu Taluk. This notification was issued under the provisions of Rule 8(8) of the 1959 Rules and it was stated therein that lease would be granted for a period of five years. Applications were thus invited for grant of ordinary stone quarrying lease for a period o....
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....ll be subject to the following conditions, namely: (i) The date of commencement of the period of lease granted under this rule shall be the date on which the lease deed is executed. (ii) The lease shall expire on the date specified in the lease deed and in no case extension of the period shall be made. (Substituted by G.O. Ms. No. 391, Industries dt. 17.11.2000) 8. On the basis of this amendment, the Respondent claimed that since the lease was given to him in respect of virgin land with the application of the aforesaid Rule it automatically got the lease to be treated as granted for a period of ten years. He made a representation in this behalf which was not accepted and in these circumstances Respondent filed ....
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....tatutes, a distinction could be made for the application of the general rule to procedural aspect meaning thereby that if the provision is procedural in nature it will apply to pending cases as well. What is substantially procedural would depend upon the applicability of Statutes to the facts in each case. 11. After stating the aforesaid position in law about which there is no quarrel, the High Court referred to Rule 8(8) of 1959 Rules as amended and came to the conclusion that so far as the 1959 Rules are concerned they are only procedural. As a consequence, the High Court held that it is the amended rule which would apply to those leases as a whole which was still operational and period whereof did not expire inasmuch as such amended R....
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....n retrospective effect. To put it otherwise, the classification of a statute, either substantive or procedural, does not necessarily determine whether it may have a retrospective operation. In Maxwell v. Murphy (1957) 96 CLR 261, Dixon C.J. formulated the aforesaid procedure in the following words: The general rule of the common law is that a statute changing the law ought not, unless the intention appears with reasonable certainty, to be understood as applying to facts or events that have already occurred in such a way as to confer or impose or otherwise affect rights or liabilities which the law had defined by reference to the past events. But given rights and liabilities fixed by reference to the past facts, matters or events, t....