IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.4595 of 2009 Between: Sri K. Narasimha Naidu S/o. Samudram R/o. Martur Village, Anakapalli Mandal, Visakhapatnam District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh Rep. by its Secretary Industries and Commerce Dept., Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Director of Mines and Geology 8th Floor, BRKR Building, Tank Bund, Hyderabad. 3 The Deputy Director of Mines and Geology Visakhapatnam. 4 The Assistant Director of Mines and Geology Anakapalli Visakhapatnam 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 may be pleased to issue an order or writ one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in Proc.No.21038/ R1- 2/2008, dt. 02-12-2008 and Memo.No.21038/R1-2/2008, dt.23-01-2009 of Director of Mines and Geology and consequential orders of Deputy Director of Mines and geology in Proceedings No.3315 / Q2A / 2005, dt. 03-02- 2009 in rejecting the quarry lease application of the petitioner for grant of quarry lease in over an extent of 2.000 Hects. in Sy.No. 70 of Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal, Visakhapatnam District as arbitrary, illegal, unjust and inviolative of Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 and A.P. Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1966 and consequentially call for records in proceedings and set aside the same and direct the respondents to grant quarry lease on his application dt.23-09-2005 over an extent of 2.000 Hects. in Sy.No. 70 of Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal, Visakhapatnam Dist. Counsel for the Petitioner: SMT.N.SHOBA Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR INDUSTRIES & COMMERCE The Court made the following: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.4595 OF 2009 ORDER: It appears, the petitioner applied for grant of quarry lease for road metal and building stone over an extent of 2.000 hectares in Sy.No.70 of Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal of Visakhapatnam District, for a period of ten years, and one K.V. Ramakrishnam Raju applied for grant of quarry lease for colour granite over an extent of 18.785 hectares in the same survey number for a period of twenty years. Since the applied area is useful for the purpose of granite cutting and polishing and the mineral can be put to better use and it fetches more revenue, the said Ramakrishnam Raju was granted lease for colour granite as requested by him, by order dated 02.12.2008 of the 2nd respondent- Director of Mines and Geology, Hyderabad, and the application of the petitioner was rejected by the 3rd respondent- Deputy Director of Mines and Geology, Visakhapatnam, by order dated 03.02.2009. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition is filed. The petitioner contends that the said Ramakrishnam Raju, who was granted lease for colour granite over an extent of 18.785 hectares in Sy.No.70 of Makavaram Village, submitted an application on 29.01.2009 to the 2nd respondent, seeking to revoke the order dated 02.12.2008 of the 2nd respondent, whereunder he was granted lease, since he is not interested to execute the lease deed for the reasons mentioned in his application. The petitioner further contends that though he applied for lease of quarrying road metal and building stone, he is ready to go for lease of colour granite, if the same is permitted, and in this regard he has already paid certain amounts. Since the said Ramakrishnam Raju requests for revocation of the lease granted in his favour, the petitioner contends that his application could not have been rejected. It appears, the said Ramakrishnam Raju applied to the 2nd respondent, on 29.01.2009, for revocation of the lease granted in his favour, whereas the 3rd respondent has passed the impugned rejection order on 03.02.2009. There seems to be some communication gap between the authorities as regards the application of the said Ramakrishnam Raju for revocation of the lease granted in his favour. Further, it is brought to the notice of the Court that there are two other applications pending for grant of lease in respect of the very same land and for the very same purpose. Under those circumstances, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondents 2 to 4 to reconsider the case of the petitioner for grant of quarry lease for colour granite over an extent of 2.000 hectares in Sy.No.70 of Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal of Visakhapatnam District, along with all other eligible applicants, without reference to the impugned order dated 03.02.2009, by taking into account the fact that the said Ramakrishnam Raju sought revocation of the lease granted in his favour, and pass appropriate orders as per law, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, and communicate the same to the petitioner. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________ JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU 5th March, 2009. IBL