IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR TUESDAY, THE 19TH OCTOBER 2010 / 27TH ASWINA 1932 WP(C).No. 1593 of 2010(Y) --------------------------------- PETITIONER(S): ------------------- 1. ABOOBACKER MUSALIYAR,S/O.AHAMMED KUTTY, VILANGIPILAN HOUSE, MARAMCHATTY.P.O,KOOMPARA, KOZHIKODE. 2. ABDUL RASHEED,S/O.ALAVI,RESIDING DO 3. UMMER MUSALIYAR,S/O.MUHAMMED,KILIMANNIL HOUSE,MARANCHATTY.P.O,KOOMPARA,KOZHIKODE. BY ADV. SRI.T.G.RAJENDRAN RESPONDENT(S): -------------------- 1. THE VILLAGE OFFICER,KOODARANHI,KOZHIKODE 2. THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR,KOZHIKODE. 3. THE GEOLOGIST,MINING AND GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT,KOZHIKODE. 4. STATE OF KERALA,REP;BY CHIEF SECRETARY, SECRETARIAT,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 5. THOMAS KUNNEL,KUNNEL HOUSE, MARAMCHATTY.PO,KOOMPARA,KOZHIKODE, PIN-672030. 6. BINOY THOMAS,S/O.THOMAS,KOTTARAM KUNNEL, MYSOREMALA.P.O,MUKKAM,KOZHIKODE, PIN 672034. R1 TO R4 BY GOVT.PLEADER SRI.SANDESH RAJA R5 & R6 BY ADVS. SRI.A.SUDHI VASUDEVAN SMT.K.PUSHPAVATHI SRI.K.NANDAKUMAR THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 19/10/2010, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: SVS/ WP(C).No. 1593/2010(Y) APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS: P1: COPY OF THE INTERIM ORDER IN WPC NO.5378/2007 OF THIS HON'BLE COURT. P2: COPY OF THE JUDGMENT IN WPC NO.5378/2007 OF THIS HON'BLE COURT. P3: COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION FILED BY THE PETITIONERS GEOLOGIST ON 23.07/2009. P4: COPY OF THE REPORT OF THE VILLAGE OFFICER DATED 29/06/2009. P5: COPY OF THE REPRESENTATION WAS GIVEN BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE OF THE LOCALITY TO THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR DATED 15/06/2009. RESPONDENT'S EXHIBITS: R5(a): COPY OF THE LETTER DATED 23/03/2010 ISSUED BY THE DEPUTY CHIEF CONTROLLER OF EXPLOSIVES TO THE 5TH RESPONDENT. R5(b):COPY OF RENEWED EXPLOSIVES LICENSE DATED 23/03/2010 ISSUED BY THE DEPUTY CHIEF CONTROLLER OF EXPLOSIVES TO THE 6TH RESPONDENT. R6(c):COPY OF THE QUARRYING PERMIT DATED 29/07/2009 VALID UP TO 28/07/2010. /TRUE COPY/ P.A. TO JUDGE SVS/ T.R. RAMACHANDRAN NAIR, J. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ W.P.(C). No.1593/2010-Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dated this the 19th day of October, 2010 J U D G M E N T The petitioners seek for a direction to the District Collector to take up Ext.P4 report of the Village Officer and to take appropriate action against respondent Nos.5 and 6 including closure of quarry. 2. The petitioners are residing in Koodaranhi Village. The fifth respondent is the owner of a property having an extent of 2 acres in the said Village, Kozhikode Taluk, who leased it to the sixth respondent for conducting quarrying operation. According to the petitioners, the quarry is being conducted without conforming to the relevant rules including the distance rules. It is also pointed out that the various licences and permits have been obtained without disclosing the real facts. One of the contention is that the safety rules have not been followed. Accordingly, the petitioners have filed Ext.P3 representation before the Geologist in the matter. Ext.P4 is the report forwarded by the Village Officer to the District Collector. It shows that there was a stop memo based on which the functioning of the quarry was stopped for sometime. But, it was resumed later. W.P.(C). No.1593/2010 -:2:- 3. The sixth respondent has filed a counter affidavit on behalf of the fifth respondent also. It is pointed out that the sixth respondent is having various licences and permits including the Explosive Licence. Exts.R5(a) & R5(b) are respectively the letter dated 23/03/2010 of the Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives and the Explosive Licence of the sixth respondent which is renewed upto 31/03/2015. Ext.R5(c) is the quarrying permit which was valid upto 28/07/2010. Therefore, the learned counsel for the fifth and sixth respondents submitted that as on today, they are not conducting the quarry since some of the licences are yet to be renewed. 4. In that view of the matter, there will be a direction to the District Collector to see that proper enquiries are conducted with regard to the allegations raised by the petitioners and the third respondent will also conduct a local inspection with notice to the petitioners and respondent Nos.5 and 6 to find out whether the violations have been committed while conducting the quarry in question. Appropriate action will be taken expeditiously in the matter. The writ petition is disposed of as above. No costs. (T.R. Ramachandran Nair, Judge.) ms