In Brief
Bhushan Power & Steel Limited sought to enforce previous Court orders directing the State Government to recommend it for mining lease grants. After the State complied by sending recommendations, the Central Government invoked the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, declaring the application ineligible. The petitioner claimed the State's recommendation was a "Letter of Intent" saving it under the new law's Section 10A(2)(c). The Court held the recommendation was not a Letter of Intent (requiring prior Central approval), was merely recommendatory, and that the Central Government's independent decision on the recommendation fell outside the contempt petition's scope, as no direction had been given to the Central Government.
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