( 1 ) THE 1st petitioner is a Public Limited Company registered under the Companies Act, 1956, of which the 2nd petitioner is the Managing Director, engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of cement. The petitioner has established a cement factory at Mellacheruvu in Nalgonda District with capacity to manufacture 2 lakh tonnes of cement per annum. The raw material required for manufacture of cement is limestone. Therefore, the petitioner-company in order to operate its cement plant has taken 350 acres of limestone mines on lease basis from the Government of Andhra Pradesh in the year 1986 and a deed of lease was executed on 24-4-1986. Among other terms and conditions, the said lease provides for payment of interest at 24% per annum on the amount due and payable to the Government.

( 2 ) THE Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, Nalgonda, the 3rd respondent herein, has issued a demand notice dated 1-9-1998 to the Managing Director of the petitioner-Company directing the company to clear off the outstanding dues of Rs. 60,41,136/- for the year 1997-98, which includes a sum of Rs. 47,68,281/- towards interest for delayed payment of dues, immediately. Similarly, the 3rd respondent has also issued another demand notice dated 20-5-1999 to clear off the dues of Rs. 64,24,938/- for the year 1997-98, which includes a sum of Rs. 40,77,256/- towards interest for delayed payment.

( 3 ) THE petitioner, pleading that it has become a sick industry and has no capacity to pay the dues demanded in the above two demand notices and the demand made by the 3rd respondent towards interest is not legal, has filed this writ petition. The prayer in the writ petition reads-"for the reasons stated in the accompanying affidavit, the petitioner prays that the Hon ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring (a) that the MMRD Act,1957 does not authorise the levy of interest on delayed payment of royalty, (b) the action of respondent in levying interest amounting to Rs. 47,68,281. 00 for delayed payment of royalty payable by the petitioner on the limestone mined and used from the area leased under the mining lease dated 24-4-1986 in S. Nos. 874 and 876 of Mellacheruvu village in Nalgonda District as unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary and violative of petitioner s rights guaranteed under Arts. 14, 19 (1) (g) and 300-A of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to refund an amount of Rs. 12 lakhs with interest being the amount paid by the petitioner towards interest on delayed payment of royalty and pass such other order or orders as this Hon ble Court deems fit and proper. "

( 4 ) ALTHOUGH the petitioners have not specifically prayed for striking down Rule 64a of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 (for short, the Rules) in the prayer, at the time of hearing, Sri C. Kodanda Ram, learned Counsel for the petitioners, submitted that the main relief sought in the writ petition is to declare Rule 64-A of the Rules as ultra vires, illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional. The learned Counsel drew our attention to paragraph 10 of the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition. It is true that in paragraph 10 of the affidavit, the petitioners have sought for a writ of mandamus declaring Rule 64-A as ultra vires, illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional. The learned Advocate General, who appeared for the State Government, quite fairly agreed to go on with the hearing without taking any objection to the lapse of the petitioners in not specifically praying for a declaration that Rule 64-A of the Rules is invalid.

( 5 ) WE have heard Sri C. Kodanda Ram, learned Counsel for the petitioners, the learned Advocate General and Sri C. V. Ramulu, learned Senior Standing Counsel for Government of India.

( 6 ) SRI C. Kodanda Ram, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners would contend that Rule 64-A of the Rules is ultra vires of the Mines an