The
Supreme Court on Tuesday paved the way for auctioning 50,000 mines in Rajasthan
by setting aside the 2013 verdict of the high court that the leases be granted
on the basis of the earlier first come-first serve policy (FCFS).
A
bench of Justices A S Bopanna and M M Sundresh took note of the submissions of
senior advocate Manish Singhvi, appearing for the state government, that the
administration was entitled to change the auction policy and the applicants
have no vested right to get the lease on the basis of FCFS policy.
It
is far too settled that there is no right vested over an application made which
is pending seeking lease of a Government land or over the minerals beneath the
soil in any type of land over which the Government has a vested right and regulatory
control.
In
other words, a mere filing of an application ipso facto (by that very fact or
act) does not create any right. The power of the Government to amend, being an
independent one, pending applications do not come in the way, the judgement said.
The
apex court said for a right to be vested, there has to be a statutory
recognition.
Such
a right has to accrue and any decision will have to create the resultant
injury. When a decision is taken by a competent authority in public interest by
evolving a better process such as auction, a right, if any, to an applicant
seeking lease over a Government land evaporates on its own. An applicant cannot
have an exclusive right in seeking a grant of license of a mineral unless
facilitated accordingly by a statute, the bench said.