THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No. 23330 OF 2011 O R D E R : This Writ Petition has been instituted seeking a writ of mandamus for declaring the action of the 5th respondent in not sending ‘No Objection Certificate’ to the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, Chittoor, with whom the writ petitioner appears to have lodged an application for grant of quarry lease over land of an extent of 1 hectare in Survey No. un-surveyed gap area of Durgarajapuram Village, S.R. Puram Mandal, Chittoor District, for a period of 20 years, on 12.03.2009, as arbitrary and illegal. The Assistant Director of Mines and Geology appears to have sent up one copy of the said application to the Tahsildar, for the purpose of consideration, as is required in terms of the policy decision announced by the State through their G.O.Ms.No. 181 Industries & Commerce (Mines-I) Department, dated 28.05.1998. The learned Government Pleader for Mines and Geology, who received instructions in the matter, submits that the application submitted by the writ petitioner has been forwarded to the Tahsildar, S.R.Puram, and the Tahsildar has informed that the applicant did not turn up to show the area over which he has applied for and that the local gram panchayat has not passed any resolution for granting the necessary quarry lease over the land and further, the villagers have also represented against any such grant. Taking all these factors into account, the Tahsildar is stated to have rejected to grant the ‘No Objection Certificate’, through his proceedings ROC No. B/404/09, dated 03.12.2009. Further, the Tahsildar, through his proceedings, dated 09.02.2010, stated that the writ petitioner has applied for ‘No Objection Certificate over the land in an un-surveyed block and during the course of enquiry, it was found that there were some disputes in the village and now the local gram panchayat is willing to give resolution and the adjacent ryots have also consented for grant of lease and therefore, requested to forward the application of the writ petitioner to him. Therefore, the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology has again sent the application of the writ petitioner to the Tahsildar for his report. On 18.08.2011, the learned Government Pleader for Revenue took notice in the matter, and today, the learned Government Pleader has produced before me a copy of the FAX message received by him from the Tahsildar, S.R. Puram Mandal, Chittoor District, wherein the Tahsildar has informed the learned Government Pleader that the proposals were already submitted to the District Collector, Chittoor through the Revenue Divisional Officer, Chittoor on 01.12.2010 itself. In this view of the matter, it is therefore, appropriate to direct that based upon the said report of the Tahsildar, the District Collector, Chittoor may, if he so chooses, file a report before the Director of Mines and Geology within 30 days. Thereafter, the Director of Mines and Geology shall take an appropriate decision in accordance with law on the application of the petitioner and pass orders thereon, within a maximum period of six weeks and communicate the same to the petitioner. With this, the Writ Petition stands disposed of, duly taking on record the instructions received by the learned Government Pleader for Mines and Geology and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue through FAX. No costs. ---------------------------------------------- (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 25th August 2011 ksld