Judgment :-

J.M. Panchal, J.

1. By filing this Interlocutory Application, M/s. Maruti Clean Coal & Power Limited which has established a coal washery of 10 M.T.Y. capacity on Khasra Nos.850/30, 850/24, 850/31, 850/28, 850/27 and 850/32 of Village Ratija, District Korba leased by the State of Chhattisgarh through Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (`CSIDC' for short), has prayed to direct M/s. South Eastern Coal Field Limited (`SECL' for short) to start supply of coal immediately and issue Transit Passes/Delivery Orders through the washery of the petitioner on behalf of linked and other customers on instructions/requests from all such customers/purchasers of coal.

2. In order to understand the scope and ambit of the prayer made by the petitioner, it would be relevant to notice certain facts. M/s. Maruti Clean Coal & Power Limited is a company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act. It applied for the allotment of about 15 hectares (37.91 acres) of land of village Nawagaon Khurd (now Ratija), District Korba, (`the land' for short) for setting up a Coal Beneficiation Plant with a capacity to wash 10 million tons of coal per annum. The land demanded was adjacent to already existing two coal washeries one of which was set up by ST-CLI in which one Aryan Coal Beneficiation Pvt. Ltd. has 26% holdings and another Coal Washery set up belongs to Aryan itself. The officials of the Revenue, Forest and Industry Departments of the State conducted a thorough inspection of the land demanded by the petitioner. After being satisfied that the land demanded was not forest land and requirements of environmental laws were complied with by the petitioner, the officials recommended to the State to allot the land to the petitioner. Pursuant to the said recommendation, a lease deed dated December 5, 2002 for a period of 99 years was executed in favour of the petitioner by the State of Chhattisgarh through CSIDC. The purpose for which the lease deed was executed was to enable the petitioner to set up a coal washery. Pursuant to the said lease deed, the petitioner was put in possession of the land. However, subsequently, SECL claimed title to the land and alleged that the land did not belong to the State Government and, therefore, could not have been leased by the State to the petitioner. In March/April 2003, one Mr. B.L. Wadhera, a public spirited citizen instituted WP (C) No.1264/2003 before the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur to prevent the petitioner from setting up its coal washery on the land allotted to it by the State Government on the ground that the land allotted were forest land. The High Court, by an ex parte order dated April 24, 2003, directed the petitioner to maintain status quo regarding the land allotted to it and not to cut trees standing on the land till further orders. In view of the dispute pertaining to the title of the land between SECL and the State Government, the Union of India, vide letter dated May 7, 2003 sent through the Ministry of Coal, gave the petitioner two options (1) to wait until title issue is decided; or (2) to proceed on the assumption that the title vests in SECL and on that basis, to request the SECL to allot the land to the petitioner. It was also mentioned in the said letter that in the event the petitioner chose the second option, Coal India Limited and SECL would be requested by the Ministry to initiate action for leasing the land to the petitioner. The record shows that by letter dated May 9, 2003, the petitioner elected the second option. The petitioner filed an application for vacation of the stay order. The High Court, by order dated May 9, 2003, modified its earlier order and allowed the petitioner to continue with the construction of the main building but restrained it from installing the machineries. Meanwhile, the SECL wrote a letter dated June 27, 2003 to the Ministry of Coal stating that it had no objection in leasing the land to the petitioner subject to cer