The Evening Wrap: SC dismisses pleas to review verdict upholding State rights to tax mineral lands

A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, in a majority decision, has refused to review its July 25 judgment upholding the power of State legislatures to tax mineral-bearing lands and quarries. The review was decided on September 24. It has reached public domain on Friday (October 4, 2024). The majority led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had ruled that the power to tax mineral lands and quarries was not the exclusive power of the Parliament. In a replay of the July 25 judgment, the Review Bench, which would usually compose of the same judges, repeated the majority view. The sole dissenting judge on the Bench, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, continued to disagree with the majority view. While the majority on the Bench dismissed the pleas of review by the Union government, Karnataka Iron and Steel Manfacturers Association, and others, Justice Nagarathna found a case for review. The majority declared “there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013 has been established”. In her separate opinion on the review petitions, Justice Nagarathna said they should be heard in open court and issued notice. The majority ruling on the review petitions would stand. The July 25 judgment had freed the States from the restrictions of the Centre. The court had found States’ liberty to tax mines and quarries a part of the federalist principles of governance. “Any dilution in the taxing powers of the State legislatures will necessarily impact their ability to raise revenues… Fiscal federalism entails that the power of the States to levy taxes within the legislative domain carved out to them and subject to the limitations laid down by the Constitution must be secured from unconstitutional interference by Parliament,” Chief Justice Chandrachud had laid down in the judgment. The verdict noted how mineral-rich States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha continued to have per capita income below national averages and trail in economic development. The court had further held that royalty paid to States by mining lease holders was not tax. The majority judgment said the Parliament, through the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957 or MMDR Act, could not restrict States from legislating on the taxation of mining lands and quarries within their jurisdiction. On August 14, the nine-judge Bench had assembled again to clarify to assessees, including public sector undertakings, that it could not restrict the July 25 majority judgment to have only prospective effect. The majority on the nine-judge Bench, with the exception of Justice Nagarathna, had held that prospective application of the July 25 judgment would run the risk of invalidating many State legislations. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran’s allies ‘will not back down’ in war with Israel Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed in a rare address on Friday (October 4, 2024) that his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel, as he defended his country’s missile strike on his country’s arch-foe. The Iran Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had a rifle by his side as he addressed worshippers in Tehran in a rare public sermon, days after Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Khamenei delivered the sermon — his first in nearly five years — to thousands of worshippers carrying portraits of slain leaders of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States. Khamenei’s address in Tehran was the first since Iran launched its second ever attack on Israel, and also the first since exchanges of fire pitting Hezbollah fighters against Israeli troops escalated into full-blown war in Lebanon. Khamenei said that last year’s Hamas attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, was “logical and legal”. “The Al-Aqsa Flood attacks that took place around this time last year were a logical and legal international move and the Palestinians were right,” Khamenei said. Khamenei said that Tehran-aligned armed groups “will not back down” even after a spate of Israeli killings of militant leaders. “The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win,” said Khamenei Nearly a year after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Israel in its history on October 7, Israel announced it was shifting its focus to securing its border with Lebanon. The address comes as Israel weighs retaliation for Hezbollah backer Iran’s missile attack which Tehran said was revenge for the killing of Nasrallah and other top figures. The escalation has left people in Lebanon fearful that there will be no swift end to the violence engulfing their country. Supreme Court ropes in CBI to probe Tirupati laddu case The Supreme Court on Friday (October 4, 2024) constituted an “independent” five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) consisting of two Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers to replace the one formed by the Andhra Pradesh government to probe Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s allegations of contaminated ghee used for the preparation of Tirupati laddus during the previous Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) regime in the State. A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan said it did not want the ruling Telugu Desam Party of Mr. Naidu and the YSRCP of former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to utilise the apex court as a “political battleground” to trade allegations at each other. “We don’t want any political drama. Fortunately or unfortunately, both sides are warring groups,” Justice Gavai remarked orally. In a September 30 hearing, the apex court had remarked that “gods at least should be kept away from politics”. On Friday (October 4, 2024), the court roped in the Centre, saying it too should play a role in unearthing the truth about the allegations. Besides making the CBI a part of the probe, the Bench brought the enquiry directly under the supervision of the Central agency’s Director. The court’s move to give the CBI a larger role in the probe was despite Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, expressing confidence in the competency of the State’s SIT. Mr. Mehta had submitted in court that there was “no issue if the investigation is conducted by the SIT [constituted by the Andhra Pradesh government]”. He had, at the most, suggested having an officer of the Central government supervise the State SIT’s probe. United Kingdom to consider ‘historic’ bill to legalise assisted dying British lawmakers will soon consider whether to give terminally ill adults a choice to end their own lives with medical assistance, in the first parliamentary move to legalise assisted dying in almost a decade. Proponents of assisted dying say public opinion on the highly emotive issue has been changing since lawmakers voted against a similar bill in 2015 and that mentally competent, terminally ill adults with six months or fewer left to live deserve to choose whether to end their lives. The practice is currently illegal in England and Wales and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Those who accompany relatives choosing euthanasia in places like Switzerland, where it has been legal since 1942, could face prosecution in Britain for assisting suicide. In recent years, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and some U.S. states have legalised assisted dying, or euthanasia, in varying degrees. The new legislation, which has not been published yet, will be presented to Parliament on October 16 by Labour Party lawmaker Kim Leadbeater. She won a ballot giving her the right to try to pass a bill on a subject of her choice and confirmed on Thursday that she would present one on legalising assisted dying. While it does not have government backing, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party won an election in July, promised earlier this year to give lawmakers a free vote, meaning they won’t be ordered to vote in any particular way. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said in a letter to ministers that they would also not be told how to vote. The law would apply to England and Wales if passed through the full process of legislative scrutiny by both houses of parliament, which could take several months. Scotland’s devolved parliament is considering similar legislation. “I... strongly believe that we should give people facing the most unbearable end to their life a choice about what that end is like,” Leadbeater wrote in The Guardian newspaper. “This is a historic opportunity to bring about real change for dying people... The mood in Westminster has shifted dramatically, at last catching up with public opinion,” said Sarah Wootton, head of the campaign group Dignity in Dying. In brief Security forces kill 28 Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar In one of the biggest operations against Maoists in Chhattisgarh, security personnel killed 28 Maoists in a fierce encounter in the Bastar region, a senior police official said. The gunfight broke out in the forest between Thulthuli and Nendur villages in Abujmarh on the Narayanpur-Dantewada inter-district border, when a joint team of security personnel was out on anti-Maoist operation, Inspector-General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj. P said. WHO approves first Mpox diagnostic test for emergency use In an important move to improve global access to Mpox testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the first Mpox in vitro diagnostic under its Emergency Use Listing procedure. “The approval for emergency use of the Alinity m MPXV assay, manufactured by Abbott Molecular Inc, will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing Mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply. Early diagnosis of Mpox enables timely treatment and care, and control of the virus,” WHO said in a statement on Thursday. Currently, 35 laboratories across India are equipped to test suspected cases of Mpox. In mid-August 2024, the WHO declared the surge of Mpox cases in several parts of Africa as a public health emergency of international concern. In India, 30 Mpox cases have been reported since the WHO’s declaration. The Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 04 October 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Supreme Court dismisses pleas to review verdict upholding States’ right to tax mineral lands, quarries A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, in a majority decision, has [refused to review its July 25 judgment]( [upholding the power of State legislatures]( to tax mineral-bearing lands and quarries. The review was decided on September 24. It has reached public domain on Friday (October 4, 2024). The majority led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had ruled that the power to tax mineral lands and quarries was not the exclusive power of the Parliament. In a replay of the July 25 judgment, the Review Bench, which would usually compose of the same judges, repeated the majority view. The sole dissenting judge on the Bench, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, continued to disagree with the majority view. While the majority on the Bench dismissed the pleas of review by the Union government, Karnataka Iron and Steel Manfacturers Association, and others, Justice Nagarathna found a case for review. The majority declared “there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013 has been established”. In her separate opinion on the review petitions, Justice Nagarathna said they should be heard in open court and issued notice. The majority ruling on the review petitions would stand. The July 25 judgment had freed the States from the restrictions of the Centre. The court had found States’ liberty to tax mines and quarries a part of the federalist principles of governance. “Any dilution in the taxing powers of the State legislatures will necessarily impact their ability to raise revenues… Fiscal federalism entails that the power of the States to levy taxes within the legislative domain carved out to them and subject to the limitations laid down by the Constitution must be secured from unconstitutional interference by Parliament,” Chief Justice Chandrachud had laid down in the judgment. The verdict noted how mineral-rich States like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha continued to have per capita income below national averages and trail in economic development. The court had further held that royalty paid to States by mining lease holders was not tax. The majority judgment said the Parliament, through the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957 or MMDR Act, could not restrict States from legislating on the taxation of mining lands and quarries within their jurisdiction. On August 14, the nine-judge Bench had assembled again to clarify to assessees, including public sector undertakings, that it could not restrict the July 25 majority judgment to have only prospective effect. The majority on the nine-judge Bench, with the exception of Justice Nagarathna, had held that prospective application of the July 25 judgment would run the risk of invalidating many State legislations. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran’s allies ‘will not back down’ in war with Israel Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed in a rare address on Friday (October 4, 2024) that [his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel]( as he defended his country’s missile strike on his country’s arch-foe. The Iran Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had a rifle by his side as he addressed worshippers in Tehran in a rare public sermon, days after Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Khamenei delivered the sermon — his first in nearly five years — to thousands of worshippers carrying portraits of slain leaders of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States. Khamenei’s address in Tehran was the first since Iran launched its second ever attack on Israel, and also the first since exchanges of fire pitting Hezbollah fighters against Israeli troops escalated into full-blown war in Lebanon. Khamenei said that last year’s Hamas attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza, was “logical and legal”. “The Al-Aqsa Flood attacks that took place around this time last year were a logical and legal international move and the Palestinians were right,” Khamenei said. Khamenei said that Tehran-aligned armed groups “will not back down” even after a spate of Israeli killings of militant leaders. “The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms, and will win,” said Khamenei Nearly a year after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Israel in its history on October 7, Israel announced it was shifting its focus to securing its border with Lebanon. The address comes as Israel weighs retaliation for Hezbollah backer Iran’s missile attack which Tehran said was revenge for the killing of Nasrallah and other top figures. The escalation has left people in Lebanon fearful that there will be no swift end to the violence engulfing their country. Supreme Court ropes in CBI to probe Tirupati laddu case The Supreme Court on Friday (October 4, 2024) [constituted an “independent” five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT)]( consisting of two Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers to replace the one formed by the Andhra Pradesh government to probe Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s allegations of contaminated ghee used for the preparation of Tirupati laddus during the previous Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) regime in the State. A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan said it did not want the ruling Telugu Desam Party of Mr. Naidu and the YSRCP of former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to utilise the apex court as a “political battleground” to trade allegations at each other. “We don’t want any political drama. Fortunately or unfortunately, both sides are warring groups,” Justice Gavai remarked orally. In a September 30 hearing, the apex court had remarked that “gods at least should be kept away from politics”. On Friday (October 4, 2024), the court roped in the Centre, saying it too should play a role in unearthing the truth about the allegations. Besides making the CBI a part of the probe, the Bench brought the enquiry directly under the supervision of the Central agency’s Director. The court’s move to give the CBI a larger role in the probe was despite Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, expressing confidence in the competency of the State’s SIT. Mr. Mehta had submitted in court that there was “no issue if the investigation is conducted by the SIT [constituted by the Andhra Pradesh government]”. He had, at the most, suggested having an officer of the Central government supervise the State SIT’s probe. United Kingdom to consider ‘historic’ bill to legalise assisted dying British lawmakers will soon consider [whether to give terminally ill adults a choice to end their own lives]( with medical assistance, in the first parliamentary move to legalise assisted dying in almost a decade. Proponents of assisted dying say public opinion on the highly emotive issue has been changing since lawmakers voted against a similar bill in 2015 and that mentally competent, terminally ill adults with six months or fewer left to live deserve to choose whether to end their lives. The practice is currently illegal in England and Wales and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Those who accompany relatives choosing euthanasia in places like Switzerland, where it has been legal since 1942, could face prosecution in Britain for assisting suicide. In recent years, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and some U.S. states have legalised assisted dying, or euthanasia, in varying degrees. The new legislation, which has not been published yet, will be presented to Parliament on October 16 by Labour Party lawmaker Kim Leadbeater. She won a ballot giving her the right to try to pass a bill on a subject of her choice and confirmed on Thursday that she would present one on legalising assisted dying. While it does not have government backing, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party won an election in July, promised earlier this year to give lawmakers a free vote, meaning they won’t be ordered to vote in any particular way. Cabinet Secretary Simon Case said in a letter to ministers that they would also not be told how to vote. The law would apply to England and Wales if passed through the full process of legislative scrutiny by both houses of parliament, which could take several months. Scotland’s devolved parliament is considering similar legislation. “I ... strongly believe that we should give people facing the most unbearable end to their life a choice about what that end is like,” Leadbeater wrote in The Guardian newspaper. “This is a historic opportunity to bring about real change for dying people ... The mood in Westminster has shifted dramatically, at last catching up with public opinion,” said Sarah Wootton, head of the campaign group Dignity in Dying. In brief Security forces kill 28 Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar In one of the biggest operations against Maoists in Chhattisgarh, [security personnel killed 28 Maoists]( in a fierce encounter in the Bastar region, a senior police official said. The gunfight broke out in the forest between Thulthuli and Nendur villages in Abujmarh on the Narayanpur-Dantewada inter-district border, when a joint team of security personnel was out on anti-Maoist operation, Inspector-General of Police (Bastar Range) Sundarraj. P said. WHO approves first Mpox diagnostic test for emergency use In an important move to improve global access to Mpox testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) has [listed the first Mpox in vitro diagnostic under its Emergency Use Listing procedure](. “The approval for emergency use of the Alinity m MPXV assay, manufactured by Abbott Molecular Inc, will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing Mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply. Early diagnosis of Mpox enables timely treatment and care, and control of the virus,” WHO said in a statement on Thursday. Currently, 35 laboratories across India are equipped to test suspected cases of Mpox. In mid-August 2024, the WHO declared the surge of Mpox cases in several parts of Africa as a public health emergency of international concern. In India, 30 Mpox cases have been reported since the WHO’s declaration. 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