IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 22324 of 2008 Between: 1 Sri S., Sudhakar Raju S/o. Venkata Subba Raju R/o. H.No.4/6, Isukapalli Village, M.G. Puram Post, Rajampet Mandal, Kadapa Dist. 2 D. Ramachandraiah S/o. Late Venkatesh R/o. D.No.24-1-274, Besta Palem, Rajagari Street, Moolapet, Nellore. 3 P. Siva Sankar Reddy S/o. P. Myram Reddy R/o. Nandalur Village & Mandal, Kadapa Dist. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Govt. of A.P. Rep. by its Secretary Industries & Commerce Secretariat Bldg., Hyd. 2 The Dir. of Mines & Geology 8th Floor, BRKR. Bhavan, Tank Bund, Hyd. 3 The Assist. Dir. of M & G Nellore Nellore Dist. 4 The Joint Collector cum Chairman of the Dist. Level Sand Committee Nellore, Nellore Dist. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 1st Respondent in issuing the Memo.No.13579/SPIU & Sand/2008-1 dated 01-10-2008 by staying the auction Notiﬁcation No.864/Q/2008-II dated 15-09-2008 issued by the ADMG Nellore for seven reaches in Penna River basing on the MLA letter is bad, illegal, arbitrary and violation of Art. 14 & 21 of the constitution of India, and it is also oppose to the public policy as well as contrary to the rule 9-B of the APMMC Rules 1966 consequently set aside the same and direct the respondents herein let the auction shall go on as per the notiﬁcation issued by the ADMG Nellore vide its auction Notification No.864/Q/2008-II dated 15-09-2008. Counsel for the Petitioners :MR.V.L.SURENDRA Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE The Court made the following ORDER: The Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, Nellore, the third respondent herein, issued a tender notiﬁcation, dated 15.09.2008, proposing to conduct auction of lease hold rights for sand quarry in 7 reaches of Penna river. The last date for submission of tenders was ﬁxed as 03.10.2008. The petitioners intended to participate in the same. However, even before the expiry of the least date for submission of tenders, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Industries and Commerce Department, the ﬁrst respondent herein, issued a memo, dated 01.10.2008 directing stay of auction notiﬁcation, dated 15.09.2008. The petitioners challenge the same. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the Government Pleader for Industries. In the tender notice itself, the dates on which the existing leases expired are mentioned. Obviously, with a view to ensure that fresh leases are granted, before the existing leases would expire, steps were initiated. The circumstances under which the ﬁrst respondent stayed the auction are not immediately before this Court. The allegation of the petitioners that the stay is granted only with a view to enable the existing lessees to continue or to pave the way for grant of temporary permits, needs to be taken into account. The interim order granted by the ﬁrst respondent cannot be a device to prevent the grant of fresh leases before the existing leases expire. Hence, the writ petition is disposed of, directing that the ﬁrst respondent shall dispose of the matter pending before it duly ensuring that the auction for grant of leases is conducted before the expiry of existing leases. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt::21.10.2008. kdl