SC admits appeal of Jharkhand quarry lessees against royalty recovery
THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK New Delhi, June 3: Lessees of stone quarries in Jharkhand have approached the Supreme Court challenging a High…
THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, June 3: Lessees of stone quarries in Jharkhand have approached the Supreme Court challenging a High Court order allowing the state government to recover differential royalty amounts. The Supreme Court has admitted their appeal and granted relief from any punitive action regarding the recovery until the matter is heard in the last week of July.
The petition was heard by a bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. The court issued a notice to the Jharkhand government and clarified that if any punitive action is taken based on the High Court’s order, the lessees may seek relief through appeal. The next hearing is scheduled for the last week of July.
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Background of the Case
A total of 119 lessees of minor mineral quarries had filed separate petitions in the Jharkhand High Court between 2022 and 2024. These cases were heard together by a bench of Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Arun Kumar Rai, as they involved similar issues and requests for judicial intervention.
After hearing the arguments, the High Court upheld the government’s directives for quarry owners to pay the differential royalty, environmental cess, and income tax.
In its judgment dated September 23, 2025, the court also validated the government’s decision to increase the royalty rates on minor minerals.
The state had amended the JMMC Rules in 2019, raising the royalty on boulders from ₹132 to ₹250 per cubic meter.
Following this, in 2022, the state issued an order directing lessees to pay the differential amount of ₹118 per cubic meter, in addition to environmental cess and income tax. In 2023, the government issued demand notices to lessees for recovery of these dues. These demands formed the basis of the writ petitions filed in the High Court.
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Three Main Demands in the Petition
- Cancellation of the order dated May 6, 2022, which directed quarry owners to pay the differential royalty on boulders sent to crushers, along with environmental cess and income tax.
- Cancellation of the order dated September 16, 2019, which raised the royalty rate to ₹250 per cubic meter for boulders extracted for making chips.
- Exemption of the ₹250 rate for lessees who do not operate stone crushers.
