In Brief
The Supreme Court partially allowed an appeal by West Bengal challenging a High Court judgment that granted a mining lease for Dolomite to M/s Chiranjilal Industries over 76 acres. The Court held that while pre-2015 Amendment applications are generally ineligible under Section 10-A of the Mines and Minerals Act 1957, where the State Government itself owns a portion of the land and has no objection to granting a lease, it must execute a lease for that portion. Accordingly, the Court ordered execution of a mining lease for 20.87 acres owned by the State, while rejecting Chiranjilal's claim for the remaining balance area that overlapped with prior applications.
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