JUDGMENT :

Petitioner prays for a declaration that he is entitled to have his license renewed by the Panchayat under Rule 10 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Issue of Licence to Factories, Trades, Entrepreneurship Activities and Other Services) Rules, 1996. Petitioner also seeks a direction to the respondent to issue a certificate of renewal of license.

2. With the intention of commencing quarrying operations, petitioner initiated steps to obtain licenses and permissions from various statutory authorities. The Geologist issued a letter of intent on 10.05.2018 expressing that a quarrying permit can be issued to the Petitioner to extract granite building stones from an area of 99.41 ares in resurvey No. 85/2, 86/1 and 86/2 of Keralasseri Village of Palakkad Taluk, provided he obtains various licenses and permissions mentioned therein. Pursuant thereto, petitioner obtained an Environmental Clearance, followed by a license under the Explosives Act, apart from consent to operate the quarry from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board. Later, the Panchayat also issued a license to the petitioners for the period from 11.01.2023 to 31.03.2023 to conduct the quarry.

3. On obtaining all the licens