K. Vinod Chandran, J.

1. All the above Writ Petitions seek issuance of Form O(A) under R. 14 of the Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2015 (hereinafter referred to as a KMMC Rules); transit passes for removing the excavated ordinary earth. The claim is raised on the basis of building permits issued by the Local Self Government Institutions (LSGI for brevity), with permission to construct building of less than 300 sq. mrs plinth area. The claim is that the petitioners would require extraction and removal of ordinary earth for carrying out such construction; which excavated earth can be transported out only with transit passes issued under The Kerala Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Storage and Transportation) Rules, 2015 (in short the Transportation Rules'). It is also submitted that the petitioners would pay the royalty demanded by the Geologist; which is a pre-condition for issuance of Form O(A) under R.11 of the KMMC Rules.

2. This Court had noticed various instances wherein gross misuse of the exemption granted by the State, was perpetrated resulting in razing down hills and levelling hillocks; changing the very terrain of the land, on the strength of building permits issued by the local authorities, thus rendering otiose the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act for short). This Court was faced with numerous instances where d large scale mining operations were carried out, on the basis of the exemption under R.14(2) and transit passes were sought to be issued, for commercial exploitation of the excavated ordinary earth. Often the building permits, issued by the local authority; which does not create any obligation on the land owner to make that construction having less than 300 sq. metres, was used only for the excavation; with no building being erected. This Court had in one of such cases in the above batch i.e., W.P.(C) 23251 of 2016 passed an interim order dated 19.08.2016 on the following lines:

"The above Writ Petition has been filed, seeking a further permit for carrying out excavation of red earth for the purpose of a building construction. The petitioner, on the basis of a building permit, the plan of which is produced at Ext.P3 for construction of a building having a total plinth area of 95.6 sq. metre, has sought for excavation, which has been granted as per Exts.P5 & P6. The photographs produced by the petitioner itself shows that an entire hill has been razed to the ground for the purpose of building a residential house of 95.6 sq. metre.

2. This is a gross misuse of the exemption provided under sub-rule (2) of R.14 of the Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2015, wherein extraction of ordinary earth for construction of residential buildings, having a plinth area of less than 300 sq. metres, is exempted. The above provision, according to this Court, is only to grant exemption insofar as removing the earth, which is extracted for the purpose of building the foundation and not to change the terrain of the land itself.

3. This Court has come across a number of such petitions, in which claim for O(A) Forms for transport of ordinary earth is sought for, on the basis of the exemption, which as revealed herein has been grossly misused. It is also to be noticed that the exemption only requires a permit obtained from the Local Self Government Authority and it does not speak of any actual construction being undertaken or finished within a specified time. Hence, any person having land could seek for a permit, carry out extraction and then not carry out the construction at all, in which event, the extraction would have been permitted in contravention of the Rules.

4. The State of Kerala represented by the Chief Secretary, Government Secretariat, Trivandrum, the Law Secretary, Government Secretariat, Trivandrum and the Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Government Secretariat, Trivandrum are impleaded suo motu as addl. Respondents 5, 6 & 7.

5. The Ge