NCLT can't decide disputes related to mining lease: SC

The Supreme Court has held that National Company Law Tribunal and its appellant body do not have jurisdiction to decide upon disputes related to allotment of mining lease.

Though NCLT and NCLAT would have jurisdiction to enquire into questions of fraud, they would not have jurisdiction to adjudicate upon disputes such as those arising under Mines & Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act,
1957 and the rules issued thereunder, a three- judge bench presided over by Justice R F Nariman ruled.

Referring to the statutory scheme and various provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the court said, "It is clear that wherever the corporate debtor has to exercise a right that falls outside the purview of the IBC, 2016 especially in the realm of the public law, they cannot, through the resolution professional, take a bypass and go before NCLT for the enforcement of such a right."

The top court passed its judgement on civil appeals filed M/s Embassy Property Developments Pvt Ltd and others against the Karnataka High Court's interim orders. The HC's division bench had stayed the NCLT orders while hearing a writ petition.

It agreed to the contention of Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Karnataka government that the decision to refuse the benefit of deemed extension of lease, was in the public law domain.

Hence the correctness of the said decision can be called into question only in a superior court, vested with the power of judicial review over administrative action.

"The NCLT, being a creature of a special statute to discharge

certain specific functions, cannot be elevated to the status of a superior court having the power of judicial review over administrative action," the bench, also comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and V Ramasubramanian, said.