PETITIONER:
ICHCHAPUR INDUSTRIAL CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LTD.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
THE COMPETENT AUTHORITY, OIL & NATURAL GAS COMMISSION& ANR.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 19/12/1996
BENCH:
KULDIP SINGH, S. SAGHIR AHMAD
ACT
HEADNOTE
JUDGMENT
JUDGMENTS.SAGHIR AHMAD, J.
Leave granted. 2. Water is a mineral within the meaning of Mines Act, 1952 read with Section 2(ba) of the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in land) Act, 1962 (for short, the Act) or not is the question raised by the respondent in this appeal. 3. Appellant owns survey plot nos. 780, 781, 913/2, 914, 893, 918/223, 924/2, 923, 926 of moja Ichchapur, Tehasil Choryasi, District Surat which were notified on 23.6.83 under Section 3(1) of the Act. For acquiring the right of user in those plots to enable the respondent no.2, namely, the oil and Natural Gas Commission, in whom the rights were ultimately vested, to lay pipelines for transporting Petroleum from one place to another, a Notification was issued under Section 3(1) of the Act on 23.6.83. This Notification was followed by Notification dated 16.1.84 issued under Section 6(1) of the Act and the right of user in the aforesaid land stood acquired for laying the pipelines. It was also indicated in that Notification that the right of user in the said lands shall, instead of vesting in the Central Government, vest in the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. 4. In pursuance of the aforesaid notifications, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (for short, ONGC) laid down pipelines in the aforesaid plots of land for transportation of Petroleum from Utran Terminal to Kribhco Terminal. 5. The right of user having vested in the ONGC, they initially laid one 12" Gas pipeline through the said land (30 metres wide) for transportation of the Gas. The Gas processing plant is said to be located at Hazira and south basin. Gas is being processed at that plant since 1988 for being supplied to various consumers. In order to run the aforesaid plant efficiently and effectively, water is a commodity which is vitally required. Water was initially drawn for that purpose from KRBC canal division but when ONGC was informed that no further water would be made available from the canals due to Kakarprra Irrigation Project, the ONGC decided to draw water from the alternative sources through their own pipelines which they thought they would lay down underneath the land of which the right of user had already vested in them. Accordingly, a notice dated 6.10.94 was issued under Section 8 of the Act for laying pipelines to carry water for effective working of the Gas processing plant. The pipeline was to pass through a stretch of land of 13 Kms. out of which the land owners/occupiers of 11 kms. did not raise any objection whatsoever but the appellant who is concerned only with 2 Kms. of land challenged the notice on the ground that the proposed pipelines were not being laid for transporting petroleum or any other mineral but for transporting water which was not permissible under the Act. This contention has been rejected by the Gujarat High Court which was of the opinion that the action of ONGC in laying down the proposed pipeline for transporting water was fully covered by the provisions of the Act specially as the right of user of the land through which the pipeline was proposed to be carried had already vested in the ONGC. 6. The appellant has again raised this question in this appeal while ONGC has raised an additional ground that "WATER" for which the pipelines have been laid is a mineral and since "Minerals" could be validly carried through those pipelines, "Water" could also be carried or transported through them. 7. Whether "Water" is a mineral or not was not decided by the High Court as it was of the opinion that carrying of water through the pipelines would be covered by the phrase "any other act necessary for the utilisation of the pipeline" used in Section 7(1)(ii) of the Act on the simple logic that:-
(i) Pipeline earlier laid were
meant, and, are being utilised
for transportation of Gas.
(ii) This Gas is processed at the
Gas processing plant.
(iii) For running of Gas processing
plant, water is necessary
otherwise the plant will not
run and Gas will not be
available.
(iv) If water was carried through
the new pipelines to run the
plant, it would amount to an
act for the utilisation of
pipelines for transportation
of the Gas.
8. Section 2(ba) defines
"Minerals" as under:-
"2(ba). "minerals" have the
meanings assigned to them in
the Mines Act, 1952, and
include mineral oils and
stowing sand but do not
include petroleum."
9. "Petroleum" has been defined
in Section 2(c) as under:-
"2(c). "petroleum" has the same
meaning as in the Petroleum Act,
1934, and includes natural gas and
refinery gas."
10. Section 3 of the Act provides
as under:-
"3 Publication of notification for
acquisition.-
(1) Whenever it appears to the
Central Government that it is
necessary in the public interest
that for the transport of petroleum
[of any minerals] from one locality
to another locality pipelines may
be laid by that Government or by
any State Government or a
Corporation and that for the
purpose of laying such pipelines it
is necessary to acquire the right
of user in any land under which
such pipelines may be laid, it may,
by notification in the Official
Gazette, declare its intention to
acquire the right of user therein.
(2) Every notification under sub-
section (1) shall give a brief
description of the land.
(3) The competent authority shall
cause the substance of the
notification to be published at
such places and in such manner as
may be prescribed."
11. Section 5 and 6 provide as
under:
"5. Hearing of Objections - . (1)
Any person interested in the land
may, within twenty-one days from
the date of the notification under
sub-section (1) of section 3,
object to the laying of the
pipelines under the land.
(2) Every objection under sub-
section (1) shall be made to the
competent authority in writing and
shall set out the grounds thereof
and the competent authority shall
give the objector an opportunity of
being heard either in person or by
a legal practitioner and may, after
hearing all such objections and
after making such further inquiry,
if any, as that authority thinks
necessary, by order either allow or
disallow the objections.
(3) Any order made by the
competent authority under sub-
section (2) shall be final."
"6. Declaration of acquisition of
right of user. - (1) Where no
objections under sub-section (1) of
Section 5 have been made to the
competent authority within the
period specified therein or where
the competent authority has
disallowed the objections under
sub-section (2) of that Section,
that authority shall, as soon as
may be, [either make a report in
respect of the land section (1) of
section 3, or make different
reports in respect of different
parcels of such land, to the
Central Government containing his
recommendations on the objections,
together with the record of the
proceedings held by him, for the
decision of that Government] and
upon receipt of such report, the
Central Govt. shall [if satisfied
that such land is required for
laying any pipeline for the
transport of petroleum or any
mineral,] declare, by notification,
in the Official Gazette, that the
right of user in the land for
laying the pipelines should be
acquired [and different
declarations may be made from time
to time in respect of different
parcels of the land described in
the notification issued under sub-
section (1) of section 3,
irrespective of whether one report
or different reports have been made
by the competent authority under
this section].
(2) On the publication of the
declaration under sub-section (1),
the right of user [in the land
specified therein] shall vest
absolutely in the Central
Government free from all
encumbrances.
(3) Where in respect of any land,
a notification has been issued
under sub-section (1) of section 3
but [no declaration in respect of
any parcel of land covered by that
notification has been published
under this section] within a period
of one year from the date of that
notification, that notification
shall cease to have effect on the
expiration of that period.
(4) Notwithstanding anything
contained in sub-section (2), the
Central Government may, on such
terms and conditions as it may
think fit to impose, direct by
order in writing, that the right of
user in the land for laying the
pipelines shall, instead of vesting
in the Central Government vest,
either on the date of publication
of the declaration or, on such
other date as may be specified in
the direction, in the State
Government or the corporation
proposing to lay the pipelines and
thereupon the right of such user in
the land shall, subject to the
terms and conditions so imposed,
vest in that State Government or
corporation, as the case may be,
free from all encumbrances." 12. There is no dispute between the parties that a Notification under Section 3 of the Act was duly published which was subsequently followed by Declaration under Section 6 with the result that the right of user of the land in question vested in the ONGC. The question which is being canvassed before us now is that new pipelines for carrying another commodity cannot be laid unless fresh Notification under Section 3 followed by a Declaration under Section 6, which too is made after following the procedure prescribed under Section 4 and 5, are issued or the land itself is acquired under the Land Acquisition Act for this purpose. We shall consider this question, if need be, later as we intend to take up the other question, namely, the question whether "Water" is a "Mineral" or not, first. 13. This question arises in view of the provisions contained in Section 7 of the Act which provides that where the right of the user, in any land, has vested in the Central Government or in any State Government or Corporation under Section 6, it shall be lawful by those authorities to enter upon the land and lay pipelines or to do any other act necessary for the laying up of pipelines. 14. Clauses (ia) and (ii) of Sub-section (1) which are relevant are reproduced below:-
"(ia) for laying pipelines for
the transport of petroleum, it
shall be lawful for any person
authorised by the Central
Government or such State Government
or corporation to use such land for
laying pipelines for transporting
any mineral and where the right of
user in any land has so vested for
laying pipelines for transporting
any mineral, it shall be lawful for
such person to use such land for
laying pipelines for transporting
petroleum or any other mineral; and
(ii) such land shall be used
only for laying the pipelines and
for maintaining, examining,
repairing, altering or removing any
such pipelines or for doing any
other act necessary for any of the
aforesaid purposes or for the
utilisation of such pipelines." 15. A perusal of the above would indicate that if the right of user of the land has vested in the Government for laying pipelines for transporting petroleum, it shall be lawful to lay pipeline for transporting minerals. It also provides that where the right of user of a land has vested in the Government for laying pipelines for transporting any mineral, it would be lawful to lay pipelines for transporting petroleum or any other mineral including the mineral for the transportation of which the right of user had already vested. The two rights, namely, the right to lay pipeline for Petroleum and the right to lay pipeline for minerals have been linked together. If one is acquired, the other also becomes available. 16. Clause (ia) was introduced in Section 7 by the Petroleum Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Amendment Act, 1977 (Act 13 of 1977) with effect from 3rd of February, 1977. BY the same Amending Act, the definition of "Minerals" contained in Clause (ba) of Section 2 was also introduced in the parent Act. "Mineral" was not earlier defined and so also the right to lay down pipelines for carrying "Mineral" was also not available in the original Act. The Statement of Objects and Reasons for amending the parent Act by Act 13 of 1977 provides, inter-alia, as under:-
"The Petroleum Pipelines
(Acquisition of Right of user in
Land) Act, 1962 was enacted to
empower the Central Government to
acquire the right of user in any
land if it appears to that
Government that it is necessary, in
the public interest, to lay
pipelines under such land for the
transport of petroleum (which is
defined to include natural gas and
refinery gas) from one locality to
another. When the legislation was
enacted, petroleum (including
natural gas and refinery gas) was
the only commodity for which
transportation through pipelines
was contemplated. Technological
advance has since made it possible
to transport in bulk, mineral
(besides petroleum) through
pipelines. It is therefore proposed
to amend the Act to enable the
acquisition of the right of user in
land also for laying pipelines for
the transport of minerals (besides
petroleum) from one place to
another." 17. In view of the availability of right to lay down pipelines for transporting a "Mineral" after the amendment of the Act, the respondents can legally lay down the pipelines through the land in question for carrying and transporting "Water" provided "Water" is a "Mineral" 18. The definition of "Minerals" which we have already quoted above would indicate that the meaning given to it in the Mines Act, 1952 is to apply here also on the basis of classic principle of Legislation by Reference or Incorporation which is a legislative device adopted for the sake of convenience in order to avoid verbatim reproduction of the provisions of the earlier Act into the later. The provisions so incorporated become part and parcel of the later Act as if they had been bodily transposed into it. 19. On this principle, the definition of "Minerals" as set out in this Mines Act, 1952 shall be deemed to have been bodily lifted and incorporated into this Act. We have, therefore, to look to that Act of find out the true meaning of the word "Minerals" which is defined in Section 2(jj) as under:-
2(jj). "minerals" means all
substances which can be obtained
from the earth by mining, digging,
drilling, dredging, hydraulicing,
quarrying or by any other operation
and includes minerals oils (which
in turn include natural gas and
petroleum)." 20. The definition would indicate that "Minerals" as substances which can be obtained from the earth by employing different technical devices indicate in the definition, namely, "mining, digging, drilling, dredging, hydraulicing, quarrying". These words are followed by the words "by any other operation". On account of the vicinity of these words with the previous words, namely, mining, digging, drilling etc., they have to be understood in the same sense and, therefore, if "Minerals" are obtained from earth "by any other operation" such operation should be an operation akin to the device or operation involved in mining, digging, drilling etc. Another significant feature of the definition is the use of words "substances which can be obtained from the earth" which indicate that the "Minerals need not necessarily be embodied in the earth or lie deep beneath the surface of the earth. They ay be available either on the surface of the earth or down below. If the "Mineral" is available on the surface, the operation which would be obviously employed would be dredging, quarrying or hydraulicing or any other similar operation. The definition, therefore, is very wide in terms but in spite of its wide connotation, every substance which can be obtained earth would not be a "Mineral". 21. Learned counsel for the appellant contended that we should not enter into the exercise of analysing the definition of "Mineral" to find out whether "Water" would fall within that definition or not, as the only meaning which can be assigned to "Water" is the common meaning as understood by a common man does not treat "Water" as a mineral, but treats it as the most common commodity available free of cost like "fresh air" and other gifts of nature which are available in plenty to all living beings, including human beings on the surface of the earth. We are not prepared to accept this contention. 22. Water undoubtedly covers more than seventy per cent of the earth’s surface. It fills the oceans, rivers and lakes and is in the ground and in the air we breathe. In fact, "Water" is everywhere. Without "Water", there can be no life. Great Civilisations have risen where water supplies were plentiful. They have fallen when these supplies failed. In the "World Book Encyclopedia", Vol. 21, it is further sated about "Water’ is under:
"People have worshiped rain gods
and prayed for rain. Often, when
rains have failed to come, crops
have withered and starvation has
spread across a land. sometimes the
rains have falln too heavily and
too suddenly. The rivers have
overflowed their banks, drowning
everything and everyone in their
paths.
Today, more than ever, water is
both slave and master to people. We
use water in our homes for
cleaning, cooking, bathing and
carrying away wastes. We use water
to irrigate dry farmlands so we can
grow more food. Our factories use
more water than any other mineral.
We use the water in rushing rivers
and thundering waterfalls to
produce electricity.
Our demand for water is constantly
increasing. Every year, there are
more people in the world. Factories
turn out more and more products and
need more than more water. We live
in a world of water. But almost all
of it - about 97 per cent - is in
the oceans. This water is too salty
to be used for drinking, farming
and about 3 per cent of the world’s
water is not easily available to
people because it is locked in
icecaps and other glaciers. By the
year 2000, the world demand for
fresh water may be double what it
was in the 1980’s. But there will
still be enough to meet people’s
needs.
There is as much water on earth
today as there ever was - or ever
will be."
In the book titled "Earth" by Frank Press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Raymond Siever of Harvard University, it is stated :
"Water dissolves minerals during
weathering, then carrier the
dissolved materials away - into the
ground or into rivers, most of
which ultimately empty into the
ocean. The movement of the Earth’s
waters from one place to another
and the dissolved loads carried by
them are parts of a continuous
overall pattern" hydrologic cycle.
Groundwater accumulate by
infiltration of water into soils
and bedrock and reappears at the
surface in springs and streams
beds. Groundwater levels, and thus
water infiltration and pumping from
wells. The evolution of surface
waters ad the ocean are related to
the escape of gases from the
interior."
On account of its abundance, the common man does not think that "Water" could also be treated or utilised as a mineral. 23. But there are subterranean waters which lie wholly beneath the surface of the earth and which either ooze or seep through the surface strata without pursing any defined course of channel (percolating waters) or flow in a permanent and regular but invisible course, or lie under the earth in a more or less immovable body, as a subterranean lake. This water can be obtained only by the process of "Drilling" which, according to Chambers Dictionary also includes "Boring". 24. Now, if it is a substance which can be obtained from the earth by the process of drilling. It would immediately fall within the definition of "Mineral" set out and placed in this Act. Even otherwise, Rutley’s Elements of Mineralogy, 26th Edition, brought out by H.H. READ, F.R.S., Professor Emeritus of Geology in the Imperial College of Science and Technology and the University of London, "Mineral" is defined as under:-
"A mineral is a substance having a
definite chemical composition and
atomic structure and formed by the
inorganic processes of nature."
25. On the basis of this
definition, Rutley says:-
"Again, water, snow and ice come
within the definition since they
are naturally occurring homogeneous
inorganic substances of a definite
chemical composition. 26. We have, however, taken the aid of Rutley’s book only to indicate that in Mineralogy, water is treated, on account of its chemical composition, a mineral. If, therefore, it falls within the definition of "Mineral" as set out in this Act, it should not surprise anyone, not even the common man, as it is a substance which can also be obtained by a process of drilling and notwithstanding that it is available in plenty and everywhere, it is to be treated more valuable than any other "Mineral." 27. In Civil Appeal No. 10538 of 1983, decided by us on 17.12.96, we have already indicated the Rule to Interpret a "Definition" and have stressed that the Definition has to be read in the context in which it is used and the purpose for which the Act was made. We observed that where the definition clause is preceded by the words "unless the context otherwise requires", the definition has to be interpreted in the light of the context in which it is used. We observed:-
"This implies that a definition,
like any other word in a statute,
has to be read in the light of the
context and scheme of the Act as
also the object for which the Act
was made by the legislature." 28. If the question is examined in this background, it would be noticed that the definition of "Mineral" which has been bodily lifted from the Mines Act, 1952 and has been placed in the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962 was deliberately introduced by Amending Act No. 13 of 1977 so that while carrying Petroleum through the pipelines, any other minerals may also be carried through it. If, therefore, water is treated as a "Mineral" it would be permissible for the ONGC to carry it through any other pipeline without any further Notification or Declaration under Section 3 or 6 of the Act. This interpretation which is in consonance with the scientific definition of a "Mineral", serves the purpose of the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962. The contention of the learned counsel for the appellant that "Water" should be understood in the same sense in which it is understood by a common man cannot, therefore, be accepted. This Act is an Act of Parliament intended to deal with the particular technology and the commodities involved therein. We are, therefore, of the view that in this Act, "Water" has been used in both the senses, namely that (i) it is a mineral; and (ii) the most common, readily and freely, available substance on earth. 29. That apart, on the second question, we fully endorse the view taken by the Gujarat High Court in holding that carrying of "Water" through the new pipelines would be an act for the utilisation of the pipeline within the meaning of "Section 7" of the Act and, therefore, permissible. 30. The whole Project under the Act is a Project of national importance and, therefore, any individual inconvenience has to yield to the national interest. 31. We do not find any infirmity in the judgment passed by the Gujarat High Court and dismiss the appeal, but without any order as to costs.