NEW DELHI — Following a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that gave states the constitutional right to tax their own mineral-bearing lands, the Central government has swiftly passed new legislation to correct this judicial oversight and ensure all resulting revenue flows safely to New Delhi.

The MMDR Amendment Bill, 2026, which currently awaits Presidential assent, explicitly invalidates a recently enacted state cess projected to generate Rs 11,000 crore annually. Officials explained that allowing a state to draw 84.9 percent of its non-tax revenue from its own natural resources could set a dangerous precedent for federalism. "If states begin using their own minerals to fund their own development, it completely undermines our ability to centralize that wealth," said a ministry spokesperson, adding that the state was being extremely selfish by attempting to follow the nine-judge Supreme Court bench's ruling.

In a major relief to the industry, the bill also retrospectively invalidates unrecovered state levies. "We realized some mining companies had accidentally accrued massive outstanding liabilities to the state government," the spokesperson noted. "By retroactively making those taxes illegal, we have saved these corporate entities from the devastating burden of paying what they owe."

Central officials assured the protesting state government that while New Delhi would assume control over the revenue, taxation, and resources, the state would retain absolute constitutional ownership over the empty craters left behind once the extraction is complete.