In Brief
Stone quarrying leaseholders in Tamil Nadu claimed the right to extended ten-year leases under a 2000 amendment to the Minor Mineral Concession Rules that treated virgin quarry areas differently from worked areas. Their leases, originally granted for five years in 1997 under prior rules, were still running when the amendment took effect. The Supreme Court held that the amendment does not apply retrospectively. Although procedural rules generally apply to pending matters, the lease term is substantive—it confers fundamental rights on lessees. The new distinction between virgin and non-virgin areas was a substantive change, not procedural, so it cannot retroactively extend leases already granted for five years.
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