IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF DECEMBER, TWO THOUSAND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR. ANIL R. DAVE, THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.22831 of 2009 Between: Gokula Tirumala Parijathagiri Venkateswara Swamyvari Devasthanam, Jangareddigudem, West Godavari District. … Petitioner And: State of A.P., rep., by its Principal Secretary to Revenue (Endowments-IV) Dept., Secretariat, Saifabad, Hyderabad & others. …Respondents. Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri M. Sreerama Rao for Sri Nimmagadda Satyanarayana Counsel for respondent No.1: GP for Endowments Counsel for respondents 2&3: GP for Mines & Geology Counsel for respondent No.7: Sri M.K. Raj Kumar for Sri Y. Srinivasa Murthy Counsel for respondent No.9: Sri K. Jyothi Prasad for Sri K. Sarva Bhooma Rao This Court made the following: THE HON'BLE MR. ANIL R. DAVE, THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.22831 of 2009 ORDER:- (Per Sri C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy, J) This writ petition is filed for a Mandamus to set aside proceedings dated 10.08.2009, whereby respondent No.3 granted mining lease in favour of respondent Nos.9 and 10. The petitioner is a Temple. The said temple is situated on the top of three hills called Parijatagiri, Garuda and Seshadri hills. The petitioner claimed that all the three hills have become abode of lord Venkateshwara, who is the presiding deity of the temple. Respondent No.9 applied for mining lease in respect of 1.44 hectares in Sy.No.79 of Jangareddigudem Village. By the impugned proceedings, respondent No.3 granted lease for a period of 10 years. The petitioner felt aggrieved by the said grant on the ground that the mining activity over the said land may endanger the life of the pilgrims, local residents and affect the temple. In response to the notice of this Court, respondent No.3 filed a counter affidavit. It is inter alia stated in the said counter that there is no greenery nearby the areas around the lands under lease, that there are trees on the nearby hillock and that those trees are at a distance of 800 metres from the quarry area. It is further stated that the dwelling colonies referred to by the petitioner in the affidavit are located on the Eastern and Southern foot hill of the hillock, while the leased area is located towards North of the hillock at foot hill. It is further stated that there is only one residential colony named Rajiv Nagar, which is located towards West of the leased area at about a distance of 150 metres and that all the residential colonies mentioned in the writ petition fall on the other plank of the hillock and therefore there is no possibility of the residents of the colonies being affected by the quarrying operations. It is also averred that the quarrying in the area would not cause any inconvenience to the colonies referred to above by the petitioner. Allaying the apprehension that blasting of the area during the course of mining may affect the pilgrims visiting the temple, it is stated that the geological formation of the hillock is Chintalapudi sand stone and it does not require blasting for separation and that therefore there is no possibility of erosion of the top portion of the hill and in endangering the lives of the people. No reply affidavit has been filed by the petitioner. In the face of the categorical assertions contained in the counter affidavit of respondent No.3, we do not find any merit in the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that granting of lease over the disputed area will affect the temple, devotees and the residents of the nearby colonies. Having regard to the assurance given by respondent No.3 that the mining operations will not affect the environs surrounding the leased area, the writ petition is disposed of with the following directions: i) The mining operations shall not result in destruction of greenery around the mining area. ii) No blasting material shall be used for carrying out mining operations. iii) The residential colonies and the temple shall not be in any manner affected by the mining operations. As a sequel to disposal of the writ petition, WPMP.No.29635 of 2009 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. ANIL R. DAVE, CJ C.V. NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Date: 23.12.2009 ES