New Delhi, Feb. 29 -- The Constitution vests the power to impose a tax on mineral rights not in Parliament but states, the Supreme Court told the Centre on Thursday, underlining that such authority should not be diluted.

A nine-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which is considering whether the royalty collected by the Centre on mining leases can be considered as tax, as held by a seven-judge bench in 1989, said Parliament can only impose some limitations to ensure that mineral development is not impeded.

The bench, also comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Abhay S Oka, BV Nagarathna, JB Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, Ujjal Bhuyan, Satish Chandra Sharma and Augustine George Masih, said in respect of Entry 50 of lis...