HC upholds Kerala Minerals Vesting of Rights Act; government now owns control over Malabar deposits

Kochi: The High Court has upheld the ‘Kerala Minerals Vesting of Rights Act, 2021’, which vests the rights over minerals, including those on private land, with the government. This means that rights over rocks and minerals on private land in the Malabar region are now deposited with the government.

From now on, anyone wishing to mine minerals for private purposes must obtain government permission. A batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law was dismissed by Justice Dr Kausar Edappagath.

Earlier, the rights over minerals in the Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi regions already belonged to the government. In the absence of such a rule in the Malabar region, the rights over minerals on private land belonged to the landowners. The 2021 Law was passed to address this discrepancy, with retrospective effect from December 30, 2019.

Following the enactment, the government issued notices to owners of rock deposits demanding royalties. Petitions were subsequently filed in the High Court questioning the law’s validity.

The court also upheld that even for private purposes, mining requires necessary approvals, including environmental clearance. However, it clarified that royalties cannot be claimed for mining conducted before December 30, 2019.

Senior Government Pleader S Kannan appeared for the government.