The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday set May 20 for the hearing of pleas on a series of questions relating to the legislation to tax mineral rights, which could have far-reaching consequences for the Centre-state balance of power. Development follows the Centre informing the Court that its curative petition on the issue is pending.
The case is based on a historic decision by the nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on July 25, 2024. The majority of the judges held that the power to tax mineral rights would lie with the states and not Parliament under Entry 54 of List I in the Constitution which relates to mineral and mineral development by Centre.
Later, review petitions against the verdict were rejected by the court in September 2024. The Centre then took up a curative petition which sought reconsideration of the order. In the previous hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought a postponement before the bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi by saying that the proceedings be postponed till the curative petition is considered.
Some advocates agreed to consider the request and recommended it be heard later, perhaps in July, but lawyers for the state authorities argued that there should be no delay, as the review petitions had been denied and several of the appeals had been pending for decades.
Having reviewed the submissions, the bench did not want to delay the matter further and set May 20 for the next hearing. The previous ruling had also held that Parliament has the power to place restrictions on states’ taxing powers regarding mineral resources.