The Director of Mines and Geology, Government of Karnataka, appealed to the Supreme Court against a Karnataka High Court judgment dated 18 March 2019, which had allowed a writ petition filed by M/s BMM Ispat Ltd. The respondent company had challenged the appellant's rejection of its representation against being charged a higher royalty than what was stipulated in the original tender agreement. The core legal question before the Supreme Court was whether the State could, by virtue of a subsequent change in law, charge a rate of royalty higher than that fixed in the tender agreement. The factual background involved a Supreme Court-constituted Monitoring Committee for e-auction of existing iron ore stocks in Karnataka, arising from earlier litigation concerning illegal mining in the Bellary, Chitradurga, and Tumkur districts, with royalty payable at 10% of market price as per the CEC's recommendations.