JUDGMENT

S. Muralidhar, C.J. - The challenge in all these petitions is to the cancellation of the auction held in respect of Black Stone Quarries located in the Dharmasala Tahsil in Jajpur district. The cancellation was intimated to each of the Petitioners by separate letters dated 17th May, 2021 by the Tahsildar, Dharmasala (Opposite Party No.3). In each of the petitions a direction has been sought to the Opposite Parties to declare the Petitioner as the highest successful bidder in respect of the concerned stone quarry, accept the rate quoted by the Petitioner and execute the lease agreement in the Petitioner's favour.

2. It is noted at the outset that, although a prayer has been made in some of the writ petitions to declare Rule 46 of the Orissa Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 2016 ('OMMC Rules, 2016') as ultra vires Section 15 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Act, 2015 ('MMDR Act'), during the course of argument, the counsels for the Petitioners stated that they were not pressing that prayer.

3. Since the facts in all the cases are almost similar, illustratively the facts in W.P. (C) No.17285 of 2021 are discussed first. Here, an advertisement was