IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) SUNDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF MAY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION NO : 25780 of 2003 Between: Masna Veera Prakash, S/o. Rajaveeru, R/o. Elakathurthi Village and Mandal, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Aranya Bhavan, A.P., Hyderabad. 2 The Conservator of Forests, Warangal Circle, Warangal. 3 The Divisional Forest Officer, Karimnagar West, Karimnagar. .....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 to issue a writ or order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the 1st respondent in rejecting petitioner's Appeal by an order in Proceedings Ref. No. 14291/2003/V3, dated 18.06.2003 as bad, arbitrary, illegal, unconstitutional and against the principles of natural justice and consequently direct the respondents to accord permission to me for establishment of a saw mill under the name and style of "Sri Rajarajeswara Saw Mill, Elkathurthi" Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.C.DAMODAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR FORESTS The Court made the following Order: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.25780 of 2003 ORDER: The petitioner applied to third respondent for grant of saw mill licence under Rule 4 of the Andhra Pradesh Saw Mills (Regulation) Rules, 1969 (the Rules, for brevity) on 17.09.2002 and the same was rejected on 01.10.2002 on the ground that the proposed saw mill is within distance of ﬁve kilo meters from the boundary of reserve forest. The petitioner then moved W.P.No.80 of 2003 before this Court. This Court disposed of said writ petition on 21.01.2003 giving liberty to the petitioner to ﬁle an appeal before ﬁrst respondent. Accordingly the petitioner ﬁled an appeal before ﬁrst respondent, which was rejected by impugned order dated 18.06.2003 for the same ground as per Rule 3(2) of the Rules. Aggrieved by the same instant writ petition is filed. It is mainly contended that the impugned order is discriminatory. According to the petitioner Sri Venkateshwara Saw Mill, Elkathurthi, is already existing in their Village, for which permission was granted, and therefore, there cannot be any objection for grant of licence to him. The submission of the petitioner cannot be accepted. Rule 3 of the Rules reads as under. 3. (1) No person shall install, erect or operate a Saw Mill for cutting, converting or sawing of timber without obtaining a licence for such installation from the Licensing Authority. (2) No licence for setting up fresh saw mills within a distance of 5 Kms from the boundary of any Forest under the control of the Forest Department whether notiﬁed or not shall be granted, except when it is required for Departmental use. (3) The distance of 5 Kms shall be computed from topo sheets as aerial distance as crow flies The Rule prohibits grant of saw mill licence within a distance of ﬁve kilo meters from the boundary of any forest under the control of the forest department, whether notiﬁed or not. Therefore, impugned order cannot be faulted. Be it noted that under the Rules the licensing authority is empowered to grant licence only in accordance with the Rules and not de hors the Rules. If a Mandamus is issued as prayed by the petitioner to third respondent to issue saw mill licence to M/s Rajarajeshwara Saw Mill, Elkathurthi, the same would amount to issuing a Mandamus to a public authority to act contrary to the statute. Therefore, writ of Mandamus as prayed for cannot be issued. It may also be mentioned that the vires of Rule 3(3) of the Rules was upheld by the Supreme Court in Shaik Hussain v Divisional Forest Oﬃcer [1]. The impugned order is, therefore, unassailable. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. No costs. _____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 05th November, 2008 GHN To 1 Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Aranya Bhavan, A.P., Hyderabad. 2 The Conservator of Forests, Warangal Circle, Warangal. 3 The Divisional Forest Officer, Karimnagar West, Karimnagar. 4 2CCs to GP for Forests 5 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{ } [1] 2001 (5) ALT 187 (F.B.)