Court No. - 9 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 35224 of 2010 Petitioner :- Brij Vir Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru' Secretary Deptt.Of Geology & Mines & Ors Petitioner Counsel :- Rohit Agarwal Respondent Counsel :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Vijay Manohar Sahai,J.
Hon’ble Vikram Nath,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned standing counsel
appearing for the State-respondents.
Learned standing counsel appearing for the State-respondents prays for and is
granted one month’s time to file counter affidavit. Petitioner will have three
weeks thereafter for filing rejoinder affidavit.
Issue notice to respondent no.4 through registered post with AD returnable at
an early date. Steps to be taken within a week.
List on the date fixed by the office on the notice.
The District Magistrate, Muzzaffarnagar invited applications for grant of
mining lease with regard to two plots of village Manglora/Nai Nagla, Tehsil
Kairana, District Muzzaffarnagar being khasra no.125, 108/A area 68.295
acres. The District Magistrate on 28.10.2009 recommended the grant of
mining lease jointly in favour of the petitioner-Brij Vir Singh and his partner
Sanjiv Kumar. The matter was pending before the State Government,
therefore, a direction was issued by a Division Bench of this Court on
30.11.2009 in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No.64309 of 2009 to the State
Government to take decision on the recommendation made by the District
Magistrate on 28.10.2009 within a period of two weeks from the date a
certified copy of the order is produced before it. Since the State Government
did not comply with the order of the Court the petitioner filed Civil Misc.
Writ Petition No.68908 of 2009 wherein the order dated 15.12.2009 passed by
the Lucknow Bench of this Court in Miscellaneous Bench Writ Petition
No.11625 of 2009 was also mentioned. This petition was disposed of on
21.12.2009 with the direction to the State Government to decide the matter of
grant of approval to mining lease within a period one week from the date a
certified copy of this order is produced before Secretary, Department of
Geology and Mines, Government of U.P., Lucknow. Even then the State
Government did not comply with the orders passed by the Division Bench on
30.11.2009 and 21.12.2009. Left with no option the petitioner filed Contempt
Petition No.936 of 2010 in which Contempt Court on 25.2.2010 granted one
more opportunity to the respondent to comply with the order of this Court
within two weeks and the matter was fixed for 18.3.2010. It appears that when
the notice of contempt was issued then the State Government passed the order
on 16.3.2010 and the matter was sent back to the District Magistrate,
Muzzaffarnagar to decide the same afresh in view of the objections made by
the parties. This remand order is prima facie illegal as the matter, which was
to be considered by the State Government, was only for grant of approval or
disapproval to the mining lease recommended by the District Magistrate,
Muzzaffarnagar in favour of the petitioner. It appears that after remand further
strange things happened. The District Magistrate, Muzzaffarnagar has passed
the impugned order on 18.5.2010 and has held that the application of
respondent no.4 (Rav Laeek Ahmad) is more suitable for grant of mining
lease and has recommended for grant of mining lease in favour of respondent
no.4. This order of the District Magistrate appears to have been passed on
extraneous consideration as the only issue, which was to be decided by the
State Government, was with regard to grant of approval to mining lease in
favour of the petitioner. In this view of the matter, the petitioner is entitled for
interim relief.
Until further order of this Court the effect and operation of the order dated
18.5.2010 passed by the District Magistrate/Collector, Muzzaffarnagar shall
remain stayed. The State Government is also directed not to take any action
on the recommendation of the District Magistrate/Collector, Muzzaffarnagar
dated 18.5.2010 and if any action has been taken by the State Government in
favour of respondent no.4 that shall also remain stayed until further orders.
Order Date :- 16.6.2010
A.