RANCHI, India, Aug. 23 -- Jharkhand High Court issued the following order on June 23:

1. The issues involved in these matters are the same and, as such, they are being heard and decided together with the consent of the parties.

2. In these matters, the similar issue involved is for quashing the order passed by the Certificate Officer/District Mining Officer of different districts of the State of Jharkhand whereby and whereunder the objection filed by the petitioner/appellant has been rejected directing the petitioner/appellant to pay the amount in question with interest.

Factual Matrix:

3. Since all these matters are similar and, as such, it will be proper to give the facts of one case so that that there is no reiteration of the facts.

4. The brief facts of the case as per the pleadings made in one of the writ petitions being W.P (C) No.1174 of 2020 needs to refer herein which reads as under:

(i) It is pleaded that the petitioner-company is engaged in the business of mining and sale of coal.

(ii) It is pleaded that that for the purpose of mining coal, the petitioner-company has acquired various areas under the Coal Bearing Area (Acquisition and Development Act) and have developed their own Mines.

(iii) It is pleaded that that under section 18A of the Coal Bearing Area (Acquisition and Development Act), the petitionercompany is liable to pay an amount of royalty with respect to the coal mines by them.

(iv) It is pleaded that for the purpose of maintaining the records, initially at the stage of mining, a tentative statement of production is prepared for the internal records of the petitioner company. Such tentative statement is prepared on the basis of volumetric assessment of coal which is not a firm figure. Such statement bears the signature of only the Manager/Project Officer of the concerned colliery. Subsequently, a firm statement is prepared in Form-H of the Mineral Concession Rules, which bears the signature of the members of the survey team constituted by the Coal India Limited besides the Manager, Project Officer, Area Survey Officer and Area General Manager of the concerned area, where the Mine is situated. This statement, which is prepared in Form-H, is the firm statement, which is binding upon the companies.

(v) It is pleaded that at the end of the year, the liability of the royalty is required to be reconciled on the basis of firm statement prepared by the team of survey officials constituted by the Coal India Limited besides the local officers being the Manager/Project Officer/Area Survey Officer and Area General Manager in prescribed form-H, With respect to Katras area, for the month of March, 2011, on the basis of tentative volumetric assessment and a quantity of 117818.706 metric ton of coal were shown in the closing balance. The statement of royalty was prepared on the basis of actual dispatch and was deposited in the month of April, 2011. The quantity of 117818.706 was a tentative volumetric assessment containing overburden, shell and Rs.25717594, on the basis of which, a certificate case was instituted being Certificate Case No. 30 of 2014-15 and notices were issued to the petitioner-company.

(vi) It is pleaded that on receipt of notice, an objection was filed under section 9 of the Bihar and Orissa Public Demand Recovery Act explaining that the entire facts mentioned hereinabove and mentioning therein that royalty on the actual production has already been paid and there has not been any shortfall of royalty.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=oxmqmhTvesiYWZENr9t6HDbCd7AIaC6d2uWquI3EuFN885AC2K24OTRho2tbCY05&caseno=CWJC/9908331/1999&cCode=1&cino=JHHC010086161999&state_code=7&appFlag=)

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