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TMI Blog2025 (4) TMI 1092X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le Shri Justice Vivek Jain The present batch of appeals is under Section 260(A) of Income Tax Act 1961. The appeals have been filed on different grounds and different substantial questions law arise in these matters. However, there are certain substantial questions of law which arise commonly in many of the appeals and some other substantial questions of law arise in different appeals on different issues. 2. MAIT No. 79/2004 has been admitted on 13.04.2005 and substantial questions of law have been framed on that date which were thereafter reframed on 18.01.2016. By the same common order substantial questions of law were framed in ITA No. 71/2014. The operative part of the order dated 18.01.2016 is as under :- MAIT No.79/2004: This appeal is already admitted. Must proceed for final hearing under appropriate category as per its turn. MAIT No.80/2004: Counsel for the appellant submits that this appeal be heard along with MAIT No.79/2004. Ordered accordingly. ITA No.71/2014: As the question posed in this appeal, for which the appeal deserves to be admitted, is overlapping with the question already formulated in MAIT No.79/2004 and MAIT No.80/2004 which have been ordere ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the assessee is entitled to additional depreciation in respect of machineries used in mining activities at Nigahi Project, ignoring that the assessee is engaged in extraction of coal, not amounting to manufacturing as stipulated in the Act for allowance of additional depreciation?" 4. In ITA No. 32/2017 the following substantial questions of law have been framed on 31.10.2017 :- "a. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Hon'ble Tribunal was justified in law in deleting the addition of Rs.2466.34/- Cr. On account of disallowance of Overburden Removal Expenses with placed reliance on the observation of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Radhasoami Satsang Vs. CIT[1992] 193 ITR 321 (SC) in support of its view that there is not good reason to disturb the well settled factual aspect which permeates from year and year without appreciating the fact that resjudicata does not apply to income tax proceedings? b. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Hon'ble Tribunal was justified in law in holding that Section 35E would not have any application on the facts of the case for the reasons that commercial production has begun in all t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 015, 76/2015, 77/2015, 78/2015 and 79/2015 are concerned, substantial questions of law have not been framed specifically in the aforesaid appeals. However, these appeals involve the questions of law which are already involved in the connected appeals wherein questions of law have been framed. 7. A preliminary objection has been raised by the learned counsel for the assessee at the outset that in many of the appeals substantial questions of law have not been framed and therefore, this Court should not entertain the said appeals in absence of framing of substantial questions of law and it has to be inferred that once substantial questions of law have not been framed, therefore the appeals do not involve any substantial question of law and therefore, these appeals should be dismissed at the threshold. 8. By order dated 22.2.2016 passed in these cases, it was ordered by this Court that questions of law have been framed and the appeals are to be heard finally. The questions of law actually have been framed in five appeals as noted above. However, in all these appeals, it was agreed by counsel for the rival parties that the appeals involve common question of law and therefore, they may ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ced. In the said case, substantial questions of law were framed and at the time of preparation of judgement, the High Court had framed such questions. Therefore, it was the case of the assessee before the Supreme Court that there was no notice to him with regard to the question of law raised in the appeal. In these circumstances, it was held that the substantial questions of law have not been framed and the matter was remitted to the High Court. 10. However, in these cases, this Court at interlocutory stage time and again has noted that substantial questions of law have been framed and the appeals be set out of for hearing and these orders were passed in presence of learned counsel for the assessee. Therefore, at this stage, the assessee cannot take benefit or leverage of the mere fact that separately substantial questions of law have not been framed in each of the appeals when none of the appeals in which substantial questions of law have not been framed involves any issue or question which is not already covered in the substantial questions of law already framed in connected appeals in which such substantial questions have already been framed. Therefore, the contention of learne ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s common order. 13. From a perusal of the substantial questions of law framed in the five appeals where the same are specifically framed, questions arise in the matter of claiming deductions on account of machinery upgradation, social development, community development expenses incurred, education expenses, transit camp, overburden removal, etc. 14. As per Section 10(2)(xv) of the Income Tax Act 1922, the assessee was entitled to certain deductions from its assessed income which are in the nature of revenue expenses and the questions that arise in these matters are as to permissibility of deductions claimed under Section 37 of the Income Tax Act 1961, that corresponds to Section 10 (2)(xv) of Income Tax Act 1961 ( for short hereinafter referred to as "Act of 1961"). 15. The questions that arise for consideration of deductions claimable under Section 35-E or under Section 37 of Act of 1961 are in the matter of deductions towards the following heads on which the substantial questions of law have been framed in these appeals and quoted above. The deductions claimed, therefore, can be broadly categorized into following:- (a) Overburden removal expenses which is the main thrust of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ine workers did not have access to proper education facilities and the assessee was therefore, obliged to make arrangements with various educational institutions in the interest of its own business. Since it was not in a position to maintain and run its own institutions, therefore, it had made arrangements with the said authorities running the aforesaid three institutions who set up the institutions / schools with arrangements that part of expenditure was to be incurred by the assessee in return of which the children of employees of assessee got the educational facilities and such arrangement was in furtherance of agreements entered into by the assessee with the Unions. 18. The Tribunal noted that the assessee had been incurring expenditure on running of the institutions by three bodies which are running pan India schools i.e. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, DAV School Society and DPS Society and also that the liability to discharge the obligation towards education fell on the assessee in terms of National Coal Wage Agreement entered into with the employee union and the assessee which was enforceable under law both under the Indian Contract Act as well as Industrial Disputes Act and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... curred to eliminate resentment into maintain peace and harmony are not acceptable, because such expenditure cannot be treated as having been incurred for business purpose. 23. The Tribunal by noting the rival submissions held that the expenses are allowed as a deduction, because the same have been incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of business of assessee and on considerations of commercial expediency. The Tribunal gave two reasons for the same. Firstly was that once some of the employees of the assessee were residing in the rural areas in which welfare and community development activities were carried out, therefore, it was not possible to carry out such activities in a piece-meal manner by including the employees of the assessee and excluding others, because such work like street lighting, drinking water facilities, road widening, etc. would benefit the community as a whole and cannot be done in a piecemeal manner. The Tribunal also gave the reason that once the assessee came with a plea that to maintain peace and harmony in the community and to reduce resentment and resistance towards coal mining activity being carried out by the assessee in the area, it was expedi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y interlinked and interlaced so that the inevitable inference was that all these units were one business alone. The Tribunal went on to hold that the facts were sufficient to establish a nexus between the payment of Rs 4,18,107 and the business. Because a part of the business had been affected by labour disputes, for the industrial health of the business as a whole, it was thought just and necessary that the industrial dispute in that one part of the business be stopped. This was the purpose for which the payment was made and it was, therefore, incurred for the purposes of the business. The Tribunal noted, correctly, that it was for the assessee to decide how he would conduct his business. For the purposes of continuing his business, he had to reduce the number of units from ten to six. Any incidental expense in reducing those units was an expenditure incurred in the course of conducting the business and allowable under Section 37. The liberty already granted by the Tribunal in the present case, to examine each item on case to case basis also saves the rights of the revenue because the assessing officer can verify each claim raised by the assessee on item to item and case to case ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be open for the assessing officer to consider the exact expenses incurred and summon details for the said expenses. 28. We do not see any error or perversity in the aforesaid reasoning of the Tribunal looking to the reasons mentioned by the Tribunal as narrated above. Therefore, this question is also answered in favour of the assessee and against the revenue. Environmental Expenses:- 29. The assessee had claimed expenses towards social afforestation, part of community development expenditure, by stating that huge waste dump created environmental problems and also proved hazardous in working of the mine due to erosional effect of soil during rainy season and therefore, expenses had to be incurred in covering the same by a thick forest and the expenditure including development of several forest nurseries to provide sapling for afforestation work, which were maintained by a designated departments of Government of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and costs were being borne by the assessee. The Commissioner held that development of green belt was not a small activity, but an activity which brought about benefit of enduring nature and as a matter of fact, huge amounts were spent in p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aced before the Assessing Officer nor before the Tribunal. The said allowance of expenditure in-principle does not suffer from any illegality or perversity and so far as allowing of part expenditure is concerned, it is purely in the realm of facts and does not amount to any substantial question of law. Therefore, we answer this question in favour of the assessee and against the revenue. Expenditure Towards providing LPG, Medical Camp, Transit Camp, etc.: - 34. The Tribunal held that the expenditure incurred in providing LPG to the employees in lieu of coal, medical camp, transit camp expenses etc. have been incurred on account of obligations as per National Coal Wage Agreement. The Tribunal held that the finding of the Commissioner that such expenditure had no direct nexus with the business of assessee cannot be sustained. The Tribunal held that the expenditure of medical facilities to the employees in the form of camps and other expenses as claimed were connected with the assessee's business, because such expenditure had been necessitated by obligations fastened on the assessee by National Coal Wage Agreement and therefore, as a matter of principle, the deductions were allowed. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... issue which was vehemently argued by the rival parties and this issue arises in most of the matters. The assessee has incurred expenditure on removal of over burden, which it has been claiming to be revenue expenditure in terms of Section 37 after claiming some part of it as capital expenditure in terms of Section 35-E till the stage the mine was deemed to be a development mine and once the mine has reached 25% of its annual rated production capacity of coal, then the said mine has been treated to be a revenue mine and the entire expenditure towards over burden removal has been treated to be a revenue expenditure and claimed as deduction by the assessee. 38. The case of the assessee is that upto the stage of the mine reaching 25% of its annual production capacity, the mine would be a development mine and the expenditure on overburden removal would be capital expenditure and allowable as per Section 35-E but after reaching the said stage the expenditure would be allowable as a revenue expenditure, because the mine would be converted into a revenue mine. 39. It is also the case of assessee that overburden removal at the stage when the overburden is removed from surface to reach fi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eam of coal is reached, it is extracted by the mining company. In this manner, after exhausting each seam of coal again a layer of soil, rock etc. is found, is again must be removed to reach next seam of coal. In this manner successively, successive seams have to be reached and the open mining pit keeps on getting deeper and deeper as the mining progresses after removal of each seam of overburden to access the next seam of coal after exhausting one seam of coal. After each seam/layer of coal, again seam of over burden has to be removed to access the next seam of coal. 42. In nutshell, the case of the revenue that when over burden is removed, it amounts to development of mine because without removal of over burden, the seam of coal cannot be reached and at every stage of removal of over burden, i.e. whether it is the first time removal of surface over burden to reach the first seam of coal or whether it is the 10th or 20th seam of over burden, it does not make any difference because while removing the over burden to reach the next seam of coal, it would always remain a activity of development of mine and therefore it would always be a capital expenditure because it shall amount to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. It is further submitted that the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has properly considered all the aspects of the matter and the ITAT while passing the impugned order has rightly considered the judgment of Calcatta High Court in the matter of removal of over burden and the said expenditures have been found to be revenue expenditure and therefore, the ITAT has rightly allowed deduction of the said expenditure as revenue expenditure and there are no ingredients of capital expenditure in the said process. 45. Learned senior counsel for the assessee further argued that the revenue mines are those mines that have reached 25% of their rated capacity and until that stage they are considered as development mines. It is argued that stage upto reaching 25% of annual rated coal production capacity has been rightly treated by the assessee as capital activity and expenditure upto that stage of over burden removal has been claimed as capital expenditure and the expenditure incurred after that stage has been rightly claimed as revenue expenditure It is argued that it is the consistent practice going on since many assessment years and was earlier accepted by the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wed since expenditure has been incurred. Claim is made after commencement of commercial production which is carried out since the year 1967-68 and the present matter arises from assessment year 1997-98 which is way beyond the time-line of 10 years. Learned senior counsel for the assessee has relied upon various judgments to buttress his submission to defend the order of the ITAT on the issue of over burden removal expenditure being revenue expenditure and not capital expenditure. 49. Upon going through the rival submissions of the parties, on the issue of over burden removal expense, we find that the concept of over burden removal is not at all disputed between the parties. It is not disputed that over burden is a belt or layer of soil and rock and other organic or inorganic material between two coal seams/layers. This position is not at all in dispute and therefore, it is not a factual dispute at all, but it is purely a dispute of law whether over burden removal expenses amount to expenses in the nature of capital expenditure or in the nature of revenue expenditure so as to claim deduction under Section 37(1) of the Act of 1961. 50. Therefore, the contention of learned senior co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n. Therefore, the question has arisen in the present case whether the expenditure incurred in over burden removal is a revenue expenditure or a capital expenditure to be claimed under Section 37 of Act of 1961. 54. The Tribunal has relied on the judgment of High Court of Calcutta reported in the case of Amalgamated Jambad Syndicate Pvt. Ltd. [1978] 117 ITR 698 (Cal) and in Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. Katras Jharia Coal Co. Ltd., (1979) 118 ITR 6 (Cal). In the aforesaid cases it has been held by the High Court of Calcutta that removal of over burden and wining of coals are both continuous processes and work being carried out simultaneously from year to year and removal of over burden cannot be compared to opening of new pit because once a pit is already open the same confers a permanent benefits on the mine and can be used for wining coal at different seams and for the purpose of reaching new seam. The over burden resting on the surface of a particular area if removed would enable the company only to reach coals under that and not any further. The Calcutta High Court in the aforesaid case has made a distinction between removal of over burden in the already existing pit of open c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r burden expenses to be expenses arising in course of working of mine has to be followed and accordingly followed the said view and held that the expenses for removal of over burden are required to be treated as revenue expenditure. 58. The Tribunal also upheld the accounting methodology adopted by the assessee in which the assessee treats the over burden removal expenses upto the stage the mining reaches 25% of its annual rated capacity as capital expenses but from the next financial year the mines are treated as revenue mines and all expenditure incurred upto that date is capitalized and grouped under fixed assets while the successive expenses are treated as revenue expenditure on over burden removal expenditure and the mine is treated as revenue mine. 59. We note that the aforesaid methodology of treating a mine reaching 25% of its annual rated capacity is only a accounting methodology adopted by assessee and is nowhere to be found either in the Income Tax Act or any other enactment in force which declares that a mine when reaches 25% of its commercial production capacity becomes a revenue mine and ceases to be a development mine and that the stage of revenue mine is achieved ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sanctity of law. Therefore, in our opinion, the view of the Tribunal does not seem to be correct that the expenses incurred in removal of overburden after the mine reaches the stage of 25% of its rated annual capacity would amount to revenue expenditure and not capital expenditure. 62. We may also take analogy from Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988 and succeeded by the Rules of 2017 framed by drawing authority from Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 1957. Though the said rules do not apply to coal mines by virtue of Clause-2 (ii) of the said Rules, but the definition of "development" as laid down in Clause 3(k) of the said Rules can be looked upon to draw an analogy. As per said provision, the activity of development of mine is as under :- (k) "development" means the driving of an opening to or in an ore-body or seam or removing overburden or unproductive or waste materials as preparatory to mining or stoping; The aforesaid definition in Rule 3 (k) of 2017 Rules corresponds to Rule 3 (i) of 1988 Rules. 63. The aforesaid definition duly establishes that the activity of removal of overburden or unproductive waste material is preparatory to mining a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stands exhausted and cannot work till the next layer of overburden is removed which is lying above the coal layer or seam. Therefore, there is no real difference whether the overburden removal is in initial stages of coal seams or is in later stages of exploiting the coal seams because after exhaustion of every coal seam mine comes to an end and it is to be developed and revived again to create a capital asset by exposing the coal seam. It cannot be equated with the activity of removal of waste material or impurities in the ore which have to be removed or set aside while extracting the ore because overburden is not mixed with the coal. Rather, it exists in layers alternating with the coal layers. After exhausting every layer of coal unless overburden is removed mine stands closed and exhausted which is not in the case where impurities are mixed with the ore. 65. In the case of R.B. Seth Moolchand Suganchand Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax, reported in 1973 (3) SCC 257 the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that in case of mining of minerals the empirical test could be that where minerals have to be won, extracted and brought to surface by mining operations, the expenditure incurred for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pplication of these principles to the various cases and the conclusions reached by courts in those cases often lead to irreconcilable results. It is because the topic itself is a troublesome one and is not rendered any the less difficult by resorting to principles. "It is not always easy", observed Romer L.J. in Golden Horse Shoe (New) Ltd. v. Thurgood [18 TC 280, 300] "to determine whether a particular asset belongs to the one category or the other" nor does it depend in any way "on what may be the nature of the asset in fact or any law". In our own court this difficulty has been put very tersely, if we may say so with respect, by Hidayatullah, J. (as he then was) in Abdul Kayoom v. Commissioner of Income Tax, [64 ITR at 703 : 1962 Supp 1 SCR 518] when he said : "... none of the tests is either exhaustive or universal. Each case depends on its own facts, and a close similarity between one case and another is not enough, because even a single significant detail may alter the entire aspect. In deciding such cases, one should avoid the temptation to decide cases (as said by Cordozo [ The Nature of the Judicial Process, page 20] ) by matching the colour of one case against the colo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... expenditure incurred by the assessee in obtaining the lease was revenue expenditure for the purpose of obtaining stock-in-trade and not capital expenditure which were: (1) that the lease was for a very short period of eleven months only; (2) that the sole right which was acquired by the assessee under the lease deed was to take away the sand lying on the surface of the leased land where no question of raising, digging or excavating for the sand before obtaining it was involved. In other words, no operations had to be performed on the land itself and "is not a case where the gravel in any true sense" as pointed out in Golden Horse Shoe (New) Ltd. case, "was won from the soil ... it is merely shovelled up where it lies". In the latter case the Privy Council said that the leases for the right to collect and remove; tendu leaves under which a certain sum was payable by instalments as a consideration for the grant of that right was a revenue expenditure. It pointed out that the contracts were short-term contracts, that the picking of the leaves had to start at once or practically at once and to proceed continuously and that under the contract it is tendu leaves and nothing but tendu le ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the lease. This is not a case, as is contended, of mica having been gotten so as to form part of the stock-in-trade of the assessee as in the case of Golden Horse Shoe (New) Ltd. v. Thurgood [18 TC 280, 300] . In that case the company had acquired rights in certain dumps of "tailings" or residuals that remained after the extraction of gold from ore taken from certain gold mines. It was contended on behalf of the revenue that the company's rights in tailings and dumps were part of the undertaking which the company was formed to acquire and any sum paid therefor was capital expenditure, and that the company's rights in the dump was the purchase of the wasting asset. This contention was negatived and it was held that the purchase price of the tailings was an admissible deduction in computing the company's profits for income tax purposes. Lord Hanworth, M.R., at p. 298, observed: "After careful consideration of the present case, in the course of which my mind has fluctuated on either side, I think it is to be decided upon its own facts - that none of the tests suggested affords a strict rule of guidance. It seems, then, that the company bought these dumps - which were no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssary to resume the business and such expenses were held to be capital expenditure. The said was held in para-28 of the aforesaid judgment which is as under:- 28. In addition to these three tests, the last of which was applied again by the Judicial Committee in Mohanlal Hargovind case [(1949) 17 ITR 473 (PC)] there are some supplementary tests, which have frequently been alluded to. Lord Sands in Commissioners of Inland Revenue v. Granite City Steamship Co., Ltd. [(1927) 13 TC 1, 14] characterised as capital an outlay made for the initiation of a business, for extension of a business, or for a substantial replacement of equipment. In that case, there was extensive damage to a ship, and repairs were necessary to resume trading, such expense being held to be capital expenditure. The questions which Lord Clyde posed in Robert Addie & Sons Collieries Ltd. v. Commissioners of Inland Revenue [(1921) 8 TC 671, 676], namely: "Is it part of the Company's working expenses, is it expenditure laid out as part of the process of profit earning? - or, on the other hand, is it capital outlay, is it expenditure necessary for the acquisition of property or of rights of a permanent character, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... very case and the nature of advantage acquired has to be considered in commercial sense. It is further held that when expenditure is made for extension of business then it is a capital expenditure. It is further held that when the expenditure is to bring into hands of assessee a necessary ingredient of their existing business then the expenditure is to be debited to the revenue account. It is further held that where expenditure relates to operation or working of the existing apparatus the expenditure would be revenue one. It is further held that the question has to be judged in every case in the context of business necessity and expediency and whether the expenditure is a part of assessee's working expenditure or part of profit earning and further enquiry is required that whether the expenditure was necessary to acquire a right of permanent character the possession of which is a condition precedent for carrying on a particular trade in the event the answer to the first question is in negative and the second question is in the positive then the expenditure is capital in nature. The Supreme Court has held as under:- 107. It may be useful at this juncture, to attempt to cull out the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5. The question as to whether an expenditure is capital or revenue in nature is to be judged in every case in the context of business necessity or expediency. The first aspect to be considered is whether, the expenditure is a part of the assessee's working expenditure or a part of profit earning. Further, an inquiry must be made as to, whether, the expenditure was necessary to acquire a right of permanent character, the possession of which is a condition precedent for carrying on a particular trade. In the event that the answer to the first question is in the negative and the second question is in the affirmative, the expenditure is inarguably capital in nature. In this context, we are of the view that the decision of this Court in Alembic Chemical Works Co. [Alembic Chemical Works Co. Ltd. v. CIT, (1989) 3 SCC 329] must turn on its own peculiar facts. 107.6. Thus, the aspect to be considered is whether the expenditure is incurred for the purpose of the existing day-to-day business of the assessee, or with a view to commence an entirely new venture. Where the expenditure incurred is merely to enhance the productivity or profitability of an existing business, without making ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... CC OnLine Del 4463] ("Modi Revlon"). 69. Therefore, as already considered by us above, removal of layer of overburden to expose the next coal seam after the mine has closed upon exhausting earlier coal seam amounts to revival and extension of business because otherwise the business has to be closed down. It is not an expenditure in the nature of extraction of coal or working of mine but it is an expenditure in the nature of further development of mine or extension and revival of mine. 70. The judgment in the case Empire Jute Company Vs. CIT reported in (1980) 4 SCC 25 was vehemently relied by the rival parties in favour of their respective cases. It has been held therein that the tests have evolved from time to time to distinguish between capital and revenue expenditure but no test is conclusive and there is no formula which can provide a quick fix solution in each case and each case has to be decided on its own facts keeping in mind the broad picture of whole operation in respect of which the expenditure has been incurred. It has been held that the benefit must have no endurance at all to be a revenue expenditure even though the test of enduring profit is not conclusive but it i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ining has already been discussed by us above and it has already been discussed that stowing of hollows created by underground coal mining is in the nature of working of mine because it prevents fire incidents in the underground mine and secondly it saves the ground from collapsing so that heavy machinery can be installed and operated, otherwise Coal was available for exploitation but by stowing, safety is ensured and collapse is prevented, that keeps the mine workable. Therefore, there is a fundamental difference between the said operations because in case of underground mine there is no concept of mine being exhausted and then to be re-exposed for the purpose of further mining which would undisputedly enhance the capital value of the mine. 72. In view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Pingle Industries (supra), wherein in the case of Mica Mining it has been held that exposure of mica pillars by some previous mining operators has enhanced the capital value of the mine. Applying the same analogy exposing the next coal seam enhances the capital value of the mine by exposing the mine for further exploitation which otherwise was not possible as the layer of overburde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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