By separate interim orders dated 25.08.2010 passed in Writ Petition No.20867 of 2010, this Court suspended the Circular Memo dated 06.10.2008 of the Director of Mines and Geology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, and directed the respondents in the writ petition to receive forthwith the proportionate bid amount from the petitioner for the period during which he was to operate the first year’s lease and to execute forthwith the lease deed enabling him to quarry sand from Anantharam sand reach, Manuguru Mandal, Khammam District. These orders were communicated by wire to the respondents on the very same day. Alleging disobedience to the said orders, this contempt case was instituted on 30.09.2010.

2. Notice before admission was ordered in the case on 06.10.2010.

3. The lease in favour of the petitioner was admittedly executed only on 14.10.2010 and at that, upon the intervention of the Chief Minister of the State.

4. Originally, Sri K.L.V.Prasad, Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, Kothagudem, Khammam District, alone was arraigned for the alleged disobedience. Thereafter, by order dated 18.02.2011 passed in C.A.No.138 of 2011, Smt.Ranjeev R.Acharya, Principal Secretary to the Government, Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, and Sri B.R.V.Susheel Kumar, Director of Mines and Geology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, were impleaded eo nomine as respondents 2 and 3 in the contempt case. Pertinent to note, all the three officers were party to the writ petition and consequently, to the orders passed therein.

5. The facts of the case, to the extent relevant to these contempt proceedings, are as under:

6. The petitioner was declared the successful bidder in the auction held on 05.08.2010 for lease of the sand quarrying rights over Anantharam sand reach, Manuguru Mandal, Khammam District. He deposited the requisite 25% of the knocked down amount within the stipulated time fixed under the Andhra Pradesh Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1966 (for brevity, ‘the Rules of 1966’). However, the auction in his favour had to be confirmed by the Zonal Joint Director of Mines and Geology, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Separate confirmation orders in this regard were issued by the said officer on 12.08.2010. As per Rule 9-I(2) of the Rules of 1966 the bidder, upon receipt of the confirmation order, had to remit the balance amount, as specified, within seven days from the date of the order. It is not in dispute that this confirmation order dated 12.08.2010 was served upon the petitioner only on 18.08.2010, the seventh day from the date of the order. The petitioner therefore submitted a representation on the very same day, viz., 18.08.2010, seeking extension of time by seven days from the date of communication of the order dated 12.08.2010 for making the balance payment proportionately for the first year of the lease.

7. Alleging that the Assistant Director of Mines and Geology, Kothagudem, Khammam District, refused to accept his request, the petitioner approached this Court by way of the subject Writ Petition, W.P.No.20867 of 2010. This Court, by order dated 25.08.2010 in WPMP No.27475 of 2010 filed in the said writ petition suspended the Circular Memo dated 06.10.2008, which required the full bid amount for the first year to be collected, irrespective of the actual period of the first year’s lease, and adjusted against the second year. By a separate order of the same date in WPMP No.26541 of 2010 filed in the writ petition, this Court directed the respondents to receive forthwith the proportionate bid amount for the period during which the petitioner was to operate the first year’s lease and to execute forthwith the lease deed in his favour for quarrying sand from Anantharam sand reach, Manuguru Mandal, Khammam District.

8. The petitioner states that after communicating the above orders by wire to the respondents on the very same day, he made the necessary deposits but the lease deed was not execut