2508cp91.11.odt 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR. CONTEMPT PETITION NO.91 OF 2011 IN WRIT PETITION NO.1502 OF 2011 Rare (H) Minerals Pvt.Ltd VERSUS Mr.S.Vijaykumar, Secretary, Department of Mines and another. ............................................................... Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders Court's or Judge's order of directions and Registrar's orders ............................................................... Shri A.A.Naik, Counsel for the Petitioner. Shri S.K.Mishra, Counsel for the R-1 and 2. CORAM : R. K.DESHPANDE, J. DATE : 25. AUGUST, 2011. The complaint in this contempt petition is that by an order dated 28.3.2011 passed by the Division Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No.1502 of 2011, it was directed that the selection process for grant of Exploration Licence in the Offshore Area of Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, may continue. However, the same was not to be finalized without further orders .....2/- 2508cp91.11.odt 2 from the Court. The complaint is that in exercise of powers conferred by Rule 16(1) of the Offshore Areas Mineral Concession Rules, 2006, the licence has been granted without obtaining the orders from this Court. In response to the contempt petition, an affidavit dated 30.6.2011 of the respondent no.2 has been filed and para-3 of the said affidavit is relevant, the same is, therefore, reproduced below-- "Para-3. As to para 3: It is a matter of record that the present contempt petition is filed before this Hon'ble Court alleging that the respondent no.2 has committed contempt by disobeying the order passed by this Hon'ble Court dated 28th March 2011 passed by the Hon'ble High Court in Writ Petition No.1502 of 2011. It is submitted that the respondent have high respect to the orders passed by this Hon'ble Court and are always complied with scrupulously in their spirit. It is made clear that there is .....3/- 2508cp91.11.odt 3 no deliberate disobedience of the order passed by this Hon'ble Court dated 28.03.2011 by the respondent no.2 as alleged. It is submitted that passing of the order by this Hon'ble Court in Writ Petition No.1502 of 2011 dated 28th March 2011 is a matter of record. It is made clear that the respondent No.2 was served with the notice of the Writ Petition No.1502 of 2011 on 06.04.2011 alongwith copy of the order dated 28.03.2011. It is submitted that the order of allotment was made by the respondent No.2 on 05.04.2011. By that time, it is made clear that the respondent No.2 was in fact not aware of the order dated 28.03.2011. It is further submitted that no sooner the copy of Writ Petition along with the order was served on respondent No.2, the respondent No.2 has taken immediate cognizance of the order passed by this Hon'ble court on 28.03.2011. That in view of the order passed by the Hon'ble Court dated 28.03.2011, all subsequent actions have been kept in abeyance till the final order of the High Court is received in respect of Writ Petition No.1502/11. Copy of the decision dated 30.04.2011 issued to all the 16 applicants in whose favour the order dated 05.04.2011 was .....4/- 2508cp91.11.odt 4 issued including the petitioner is filed herewith and marked as ANNEXURE No.R-1 for the perusal of this Hon'ble Court. Thus in these circumstances it can be safely concluded that there was no wilful disobedience of the order passed by this Hon'ble court. All the actions subsequent to the order dated 05.04.2011 have been put in abeyance. It is further made clear that the allotment order including grant of order does not create any interest in favour of the applicant and they do not get any right of exploration of the blocks in their favour till regular deed granting such exploration licence is not executed as per the requirement of Rule 19 of the Offshore Areas Mineral Concession Rules, 2006. The deed of Exploration Licence in Form K under sub-rule (2) of Rule 19 of the above referred rules has not been executed. Thus in these circumstances none of the requirements of execution of exploration licence has been undertaken by the respondent no.2 and thus only mere grant does not create any right of exploration in favour of the applicant. It is made clear that all further actions in this matter have been put in abeyance, the respondent no.2 undertakes that the same will .....5/- 2508cp91.11.odt 5 not be done till further orders are not received form the Hon'ble High Court in the pending Writ Petition. The order dated 05.04.2011 were issued because till 05.04.2011, the respondent No.2 was not having knowledge of the order dated 28.03.2011 passed by this Hon'ble Court nor was served with any copy of the order. Thus in these circumstances, it is abundantly clear that there is no wilful disobedience of the order passed by this Hon'ble Court as alleged by the petitioner. Hence, the contempt proceedings needs to be dropped against the respondent." In view of above, there is no reason to proceed with this contempt petition. Hence, the proceedings are, therefore, dropped. JUDGE BrWankhede ...../-