Dear Friends
In my opinion proof and unc coins issued by Indian mints are legal tenders.
1) These coins are issued under Coinage Act of India.
2) Each theme / subject is approved by Ministry of Finance at highest level before issuance (including designs, denomination, size and metal composition)
3) A Gazette Notification is issued for Proof/ Unc coins by Govt of India.
4) Gazette Notification is laid in both the houses of Parliament - Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha
Proof coins of India falls under what is popularly called as NCLT i.e. Non Circulating Legal Tenders
Regards
Sanjay Kansal
1) Not all coins issued under Coinage Act are legal tenders, but coins issued only under specific sections are legal tenders.
2) A legal tender can have only one value, it's face value. This face value, in turn, is pegged to the US dollar. So if at the time of writing, rupee dollar exchange rate is 70:1, then a 10 rupees legal tender coin is worth 0.142 dollars, nothing more, nothing less.
Now if mints are asking me to pay 3000/- rupees for a 100 rupees proof coin, that cannot be legal tender.
If proof coins are legal tenders, price list in mint sites would have looked like currency rate boards.
Happy Gandhi Jayanti
P.S - Admin/moderator may consider moving this to a new thread.