SC asks Punjab govt to refund earnest money of 2017 mining lease

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Punjab government to refund the earnest money of Rs 31,40,634 to Hornbill Consultants it had deposited and won the mining lease of Rs 1.85 crore for the Rurewal Mines in Amritsar district in July 2017.

The company also made two online deposits of Rs 28.75 lakh and Rs 9.60 lakh, but the amount could not be transferred to the bank account of the Directorate of Mining due to a technical issue in the bank servers.

It tried to give a demand draft of Rs 68.46 lakh to the directorate, which was retained by the latter and returned after over three months. The bid was rejected on the ground of non-payment of the first instalment and the earnest money was forfeited.

The mine was re-auctioned at the highest bid of only Rs 45 lakh per annum. The court noted that the fresh bid was not at the risk of the appellant company. Should the appellant file a civil suit or any other remedy to recover the forfeited amount, the court discussed in its judgment.

The Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and M M Sundresh allowed the appeal, setting aside the judgment and directed the state government to refund the earnext money to the company, within eight weeks or pay interest at the rate of 8% per annum.