IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No. 19922 of 2008 Between: 1 M/s Matha Stone Crushers, (A Proprietary concern) Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal Visakhapatnam District, rep by its Proprietor M.T.S.N.Raju, 2 M.T.S.N. Raju, S/o. Pola Rao, R/o. Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal Visakhapatnam District, ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep by its Principal Secretary, Mines and Geology Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Deputy Director of Mines & Geology, Visakhapatnam. 3 The Assistant Director of Mines & Geology, Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam district. .....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 issue a writ, order or direction, more particularly one in the nature of Mandamus, declaring the inaction of the Respondents in considering the Application in Form-B, Dated 04.06.2008 made by the Petitioners for grant of Quarry Lease for Road Metal and Building stone, for an extent of 20.00 Hectares in Sy.No.70 of Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal, Visakhapatnam District, as illegal and contrary to the provisions of A.P.Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1966 and consequently direct the Respondents to consider the Petitioners Applications, Dt. 04.06.2008, in accordance with law and to take action thereon. Counsel for the Petitioners: MR.P.ROY REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR MINES AND GEOLOGY The Court made the following ORDER: The ﬁrst petitioner is the proprietary concern and the second petitioner is the proprietor. An application was ﬁled by them on 04.06.2008 to the second respondent for grant of mining lease for building stone and road metal over an extent of 20.00 hectares of land in survey No.70 of Makavaram Village, Anakapalli Mandal, Visakhapatnam District. Their grievance is that though more than three months have elapsed, the respondents have not taken any steps thereon and they seek appropriate directions in this regard. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for Mines and Geology. The A.P. Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1966 (for short ‘the Rules’), prescribe the procedure for processing the applications for grant of lease to quarry minor minerals. The petitioners submitted their application on 04.06.2008. The application is to be veriﬁed at various stages and even the authorities of the revenue department are to be consulted. Though this takes some time, it cannot be kept pending indefinitely. If there exist any defects in the application, the same need to be informed to the petitioners. For the foregoing reasons, the writ petition is disposed of, directing respondents 2 and 3 to process the application of the petitioners and dispose of the same, within one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, in accordance with the Rules. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt: 12.09.2008. kdl