HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No.2211 of 2011 Date : 15.02.2011 Between : M/s.Vinayaka Metals & Minerals, Venkatanagar, Puducherry, rep. by its Managing Partner. …..Petitioner And The District Collector, Chittoor & others. .....Respondents HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No.2211 of 2011 ORDER : In this writ petition, the petitioner seeks directions by way of Mandamus, declaring the action of the 3rd respondent in not sending his report/no objection to the 4th respondent on the application filed by him for grant of quarry lease in respect of the land over an extent of 35 hectares in Sy.No.249 of Aragonda village of Thavanapally Manal in Chittoor District, as illegal and arbitrary. It is the case of the petitioner that the Managing Director of the petitioner-Firm has filed an application before the 4th respondent for grant of quarry lease for road metal over an extent of 35 hectares in the aforesaid survey numbers. It is his case that the 4th respondent has addressed the 3rd respondent-Tahsildar to send his report/no objection on the classification and categorization of land, but the 3rd respondent, inspite of sending report to the 4th respondent, has straight away sent it to the 1st respondent-District Collector, and as no report is sent to the 4th respondent, he is not taking any further steps on the application of the petitioner. It is submitted that as per the guidelines notified by the Government in G.O.Ms.No.181, Industries and Commerce (M-I) Department, dated 28.05.1998, report is to be sent by the Tahsildar to the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, by marking a copy to the District Collector, and therefore, the action of the 3rd respondent is in violation of the said guidelines. When the matter has come up for admission on 04.02.2011 and 11.02.2011, it was adjourned to enable the learned Government Pleader for Mines and Geology to obtain instructions. Today, when the matter is taken up, it is submitted by the learned Government Pleader that as no report was sent to the 4th respondent, he has not taken any steps in the matter and the report was directly sent to the 1st respondent-District Collector. I have perused the guidelines notified by the Government in G.O.Ms.No.181, Industries and Commerce (M-I) Department, dated 28.05.1998, for expeditious disposal of applications for grant of mining leases. As per the time limits and the guidelines notified in the said G.O., whenever the Tahsildar is addressed, he has to send his report/no objection on the categorization and classification of the land to the concerned Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, by marking a copy of the same to the District Collector concerned. In that view of the matter, there appears no reason for not sending the report by the 3rd respondent-Tahsildar to the 4th respondent-Assistant Director of Mines and Geology and the same is contrary to the guidelines notified by the Government in G.O.Ms.No.181, Industries and Commerce (M-I) Department, dated 28.05.1998. As the application of the petitioner is pending consideration and the report is yet to be sent by the 3rd respondent to the 4th respondent, I deem it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition with a direction to the 3rd respondent to send a copy of the report on the application of the petitioner for grant of quarry lease over the land in an extent of 35 hectares in Sy.No.249 of Aragonda village of Thavanapally Manal in Chittoor District, to the 4th respondent within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. However, it is made clear that the claim of the petitioner for grant of quarry lease is to be considered by the 4th respondent independently without being influenced by any of the observations made in this order, and the further follow-up action has to be taken in accordance with law. Subject to the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. ______________________ R. SUBHASH REDDY, J 15th February 2011 N.B: Issue C.C. in one week. (b/o) ajr