Rajasthan High Court: A writ petition was filed to examine constitutional validity of Rule 63(4) of the Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2017 (the Rules of 2017). The sub-rule aforesaid provides that an appeal shall be filed within three months of the date of communication of the order appealed against, provided that an appeal may be admitted after the said period if the appellate authority is satisfied that the appellant has sufficient cause for not filing the appeal within the said period but the appeal shall not be admitted after expiry of six months from the date of order appealed against.
The learned counsel for the petitioner argued that under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and its corresponding Rules, there is no restriction for not entertaining an appeal after expiry of the extended three months. He also contended that the proviso to sub-rule (4) of Rule 63 of the Rules of 2017 was discriminatory as well as arbitrary to the extent it restrained from admitting an appeal after expiry of six months from the date of the order appealed against.
The High Court finding the argument of the learned counsel devoid of any merit and thus dismissing the writ petition, laid down that
“It is well settled that validity of a subordinate legislation can be challenged only if that lacks legislative competence, violates fundamental rights or any of the provisions of the Constitution of India, inconsistent with the provisions of the parent statute i.e. the statute under which subordinate legislation is made, or exists the limits of the authority conferred upon it by the parent statute and if such law is manifestly arbitrary or unreasonable to conclude that the legislature never intended to extend authority to make such rules/regulations. Rule 63 of the Rules of 2017 provides a remedy of appeal to the aggrieved person and as per its proviso the appellate authority is empowered to condone the delay up to the extent of three months beyond the limitation prescribed. The check for filing appeals subsequent thereto, in our considered opinion, is not at all unjust or arbitrary or is in conflict with any of the eventualities in which validity of a subordinate legislation can be challenged.”
[Suraj Mal v. State of Rajathan, 2017 SCC OnLine Raj 2598, decided on 14.10.2017]
