MYSORE CEMENTS LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners herein are a public limited company and the Secretary of that Company. The Company i.e. Mysore Cements Ltd., is aggrieved by an Order of rejection made by the Central Government and communicated by its letter No.MV-1 (172)/69 dated 5-1-1970 on a revision application preferred by the first petitioner under Rule 54 of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960.

(2.) It is necessary to set out a few facts in order to appreciate the contention urged on behalf of the petitioners. The first petitioner is engaged in the manufacture of cement and has its factory at a place called Ammasandra in the District of Tumkur. For that purpose it is in need of sand as a raw material. From its inception it had the benefit of permits issued off-and-on, in regard to sand, from the Tahsildar having jurisdiction over the area. The sand, it is not disputed, at the relevant point of time was classified as a major mineral governed by the provisions of Mineral Concession Rules, 1960. The third respondent herein applied for the grant of a mining lease on 4-11-1968 in respect of an area of 82.13 acres, ostensibly for the purpose of winning the sand available therein. The lease was granted as prayed for by hm, on 25-2-1969, by the State Government. Sometime subsequent to the grant in his favour, i.e. on 18-3-1969 the first petitioner herein applied for a lease in respect of a certain area, including the area which was granted in favour of the third respondent. By a letter dt.20-3-1969. the State Government, informed him that an area of 82.13 acres had already been sanctioned in favour of the third respondent. Aggrieved by this order, the first petitioner approached the Deputy Minister for Industries, Government of Mysore, by a petition dt.23-4-1969. On 6-6-1969, he was informed, ostensibly in response to his application dt.18-3-1969 for the grant of a lease in his favour, that he was at liberty to apply for the grant of a lease in respect of 74 acres of land in Turuvekere Taluk as against 156 acres of land asked for by him. In the meanwhile, the grant in favour of the third respondent was notified in the Mysore Gazette on 3-4-1969. Aggrieved by this Notification, the first petitioner presented a revision application under Rule 54 of the Mineral Concession Rules 1960. The Central Government disposed of the said revision application and made an order as follows:

(3.) The petitioners have approached this Court challenging the above order of the Central Government. Sri W.K.Sundara Murthy, the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners, urged two grounds in support of the petition. They are: (i) that the Central Government has failed to exercise the jurisdiction vested in it under S.11(4) of the Mines and Mineral (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), and (ii) that the impugned order was not a 'speaking order' and was, therefore, liable to be set aside.