S. Dhananjaya Reddy v. The State Of Andhra Pradesh

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.V.SESHA SAI WRIT PETITION No.21028 of 2018 ORDER:

Heard Smt.P.Vijaya Lakshmi, learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for the respondents.

The petitioner herein submitted an application for grant of quarry lease in respect of an extent of 3.520 Hects., in Sy.No.32 of Vepery village, Vedurukuppak Mandal, Chittoor District and the same was acknowledged by the Office of the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, who forwarded the same to the Tahasildar vide letter No,8672/Q1/2012, dated 27.12.2012, requesting for issuance of NOC for grant of quarry lease. It is the case of the petitioner herein that he did not receive any communication thereafter with regard to process of conducting any survey and inspection. It is further stated that he received a letter dated 27.03.2015. The Joint Director of Mines and Geology issued a show-cause notice No.8249/R4-1/2014, dated 31.12.

2014, asking the petitioner to show cause as to why the subject application should not be rejected under Rule 12 (5)(d) of the A.P.Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1966 (hereinafter called as 'the Rules') and according to the petitioner, he submitted an explanation on 03.02.2015 and eventually, by way of an order vide proceedings D.Dis.Proceedings No.

W.P.No.21028/2018 AVSS,J 27.03.2015, the Director of Mines and Geology rejected the application of the petitioner herein for grant of quarry lease. It is stated in the reply affidavit that the petitioner did not receive any proceedings from the Office and when he requested the respondents to inform the status of his application, they informed him that the application was rejected. Thereafter, the petitioner herein filed a revision before the State Government against the order of rejection, dated 27.03.2015, on 06.02.2017.

The grievance of the petitioner in the present writ petition is that despite lapse of considerable length of time, the 1st respondent/State Government is not passing any orders on the said revision and in view of the same, the petitioner herein is sustaining irreparable loss and hardship. Having heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader, this Court after taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, deems it appropriate to dispose of the Writ Petition, with a direction to the 1st respondent/State Government to dispose of the revision, dated 06.02.2017, preferred by the petitioner herein under Rule 35-A of the Rules against the Orders passed by the Director of Mines and Geology in D.Dis.Proceedings No.8249/R4-1/2014, dated 27.03.2015, as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order, after giving notice to all the stakeholders.

W.P.No.21028/2018 AVSS,J As a sequel thereto, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in the writ petition, shall stand closed. No costs. __________________ A.V.SESHA SAI,J 06th July, 2018 smr