THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA WRIT PETITION No.19694 of 2011 ORDER: The grievance of the petitioner is that he is not permitted to use machinery required for the purpose of maintenance of ramps for quarrying sand and removal of strangled and damaged vehicles. At the hearing, the learned counsel for the petitioner fairly conceded that under Rule 9-X (e) of the Andhra Pradesh Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1966 (for short, “the Rules”), the lessee shall not use proclainers or any other machinery for the purpose of digging/loading of sand in view of the restriction placed under the provisions of the Water, Land and Trees Act, 2002 regarding the depth to which sand is permitted to be extracted. The learned counsel, however, submitted that apprehending that the petitioner may use heavy machinery for excavation of sand, the first and fourth respondents are not permitting him to use the machinery required for the purpose of maintenance of ramps and removal of the failed vehicles in course of transportation of sand. The learned Assistant Government Pleader for Mines and Geology submitted that as wide scale misuse of heavy machinery has come to the notice of the Department, the lessee is not permitted to bring heavy machinery into the sand mining areas to prevent misuse of machinery by excavating sand. In my opinion while the lessee is strictly prohibited from using heavy machinery such as proclainers for excavating sand, at the same time, he shall be permitted to use the machinery required for strengthening of the ramps and also to attend to the vehicles which are either stuck or have failed in the course of transportation of sand either in the riverbed or otherwise. In order to ensure that the machinery is not misused for the purpose of excavation of sand, the petitioner shall intimate in writing to the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology concerned giving the details of the work which is required to be attended to and the machinery which is proposed to be used. It is only after giving such intimation that the petitioner can deploy the machinery required only for the purpose of maintenance of ramps and attending to the vehicles which have failed or got stuck. The Assistant Director of Mines and Geology or any other competent authority shall be at liberty to depute any of their subordinates to oversee the proposed work of the lessee. It is made clear that if the lessee misuse the machinery for the purpose of excavation of sand, the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology/the competent authority is entitled to take action according to law. Subject to the above, the Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA,J Date:14.07.2011 lvl THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA WRIT PETITION No.19694 of 2011 Dt. 14.07.2011