SC to consider listing Centre's curative plea vs state power to tax minerals
This story was originally published at 11:53 IST on 27 November 2025
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025
NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Thursday said that it will consider listing the Centre's curative petition against the apex court's Jul. 25, 2024, verdict upholding the power of state governments to levy tax on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands. It has also challenged the apex court ruling allowing state governments to levy and renew the demand for taxes on transactions made from Apr 1, 2005.
The apex court was hearing a plea for urgent listing from an advocate who said that there were a batch of appeals pending in the mineral right case after the top court's order in 2024. Thereafter, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said that the government had also filed a curative petition in the mineral right case and requested the top court to hear it first. "It is about distribution of royalty on minerals and every state having the right to decide on it. We (Centre) have moved a curative because every state will have different mineral prices. It has international ramifications. This affects the federal structure". Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that he was thinking of constituting the nine-judge bench in January.
Mehta said that there were individual state Acts which were also to be decided by the top court. Let the curative plea be decided, requested Mehta. On this Chief Justice Kant said that he will take a look at listing the Centre's curative plea.
The Centre said that any tax collected by the state governments in the name of tax on mineral-bearing land would create havoc in the fiscal sector of the country. It will impact the economic integration of the country and also encourage the state governments to levy taxes on mineral-bearing land on the basis of the value of minerals produced, the Centre said.
State governments would levy high and variable taxes, thereby leading to non-operation of mines, said the Centre. If states that are rich in mineral coal start levying various taxes under various heads, then power supply in all other states will be impacted severely, the Centre said. Similarly, iron ore, which is the most important mineral required for development of any country, is concentrated in a few states. "If these states start levying various taxes on iron ore production, then it will impact iron and steel production in the country," said the Centre.
The ultimate impact of the retrospective application of the Supreme Court's verdict is that the common man may have to bear the burden of the extraordinary dues that will be presented to the entire sector, the Centre said. This would be extremely deleterious to the economic health of the nation and would unnecessarily burden the common man, the central government said.
On Jul. 25, 2024, the apex court held that royalty payable on minerals was not like a tax under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. The top court was hearing a batch of appeals filed by different state governments, mining companies and public sector undertakings. Some of the state governments, such as Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, said the power to collect tax on minerals is exclusive to state governments. The Centre and mining companies said the power to collect tax is restricted by the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. In October, the top court had dismissed Centre's review petition against its judgment. Challenging the same, the Centre filed a curative petition. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.
Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000
Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.
To read more please subscribe
Share this Story:
