‘Minerals, mines nation’s wealth’

At a time when the Centre is seeking clarification from the Supreme Court through a Presidential reference on 2G case judgement extending the public trust doctrine to all natural resources suggesting auction as the only mode for their allocation, the top court in another verdict has strengthened the theory, saying that the government should direct its policy towards distribution of the natural resources only to “subserve” the common good.

Resources like “mines and minerals are a part of the wealth of a nation. They constitute the material resources of the community. Article 39(b) of Directive Principles mandates that the State (government) shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good,” a bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale ruled.
“These twin principles of ‘State policy’ were a part of the Constitution as originally enacted and it is in order to effectuate the purpose of these ‘Directive Principles’ that the first and the fourth amendments were passed,” the apex court said.
The verdict came on the appeals of six mining companies led by Monnet Ispat and Energy, challenging Jharkhand high court’s verdict upholding the state government’s September 2005 notification reserving a vast chunk of iron ore mining area exclusively for public sector undertakings and withdrawing two notifications issued earlier by the Bihar government (before creation of Jharkhand) allocating the mining leases to the six companies.
Justice Lodha while writing the verdict, said, “Article 39(c) mandates that the State should see that the operation of economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment. The public interest is very much writ large in the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 as declared in its section 2.”

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