Court upheld petitioner's right to quarry lease following compliance with conditions post-environment clearance, emphasizing timely government action.

ORDER

1. Rule returnable forthwith. Mr. Rohan Shah, learned Assistant Government Pleader waivers service of notice of rule on behalf of the respondent nos. 1 – 3 and Mr. Maulik Nanavati, learned Advocate, waives notice on behalf of respondent no. 4.

2. The prayer of the petitioner in the present petition is for issuance of a direction to the State Government to pass an order for grant of quarry lease for mining black trap mineral in terms of Letter of Intent dated 6.02.2017 and consequential order for execution of a lease deed before the cut-off date of 23.05.2022 without insisting on compliance by the petitioner of all the conditions mentioned in the Letter of Intent.

3. The petitioner had applied for quarry lease for black trap mineral and was issued Letter of Intent on 6.02.2017. This Letter of Intent enumerated various conditions which were to be fulfilled by the petitioner, like obtaining Environment Clearance, approved mining plan, valuation from stamp duty department, etc. On fulfillment of these conditions, an order granting quarry lease in favour of petitioner would be made by the government and a formal lease deed will be executed permitting the petitioner to commence mining of the mineral from the leased area.

4. Mr. Mansuri, learned Advocate for the petitioner, has submitted that the petitioner has complied with all conditions of Letter of Intent except obtaining Environment Clearance.

The petitioner has made an application for grant of Environment Clearance but for reasons beyond control of the petitioner the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority has not yet granted the Environment Clearance. Learned Advocate has further submitted that Rule 29 of Gujarat Minor Mineral Concession Rules , 2017, which had come into operation at the time of issuance of Letter of Intent, provided that the “government shall issue an order in writing for grant of a quarry lease to the holder of a letter of intent upon satisfaction of the following conditions within a period of two years from the date of commencement of these rules, failing which the right of such an applicant for grant of a quarry lease shall be forfeited automatically”. This time period of 02 years was extended by subsequent amendments, and lastly stood extended upon 23.05.2022. Believing that the petitioner will not receive the Environment Clearance on or before 24.05.2022 and apprehending that in absence of a formal order granting quarry lease being passed by the government before the said date the petitioner shall lose right to get the quarry lease in view of expiration of the time period prescribed in Rule 29 of the Gujarat Minor Mineral Concession Rules , 2017, the petitioner approached this Court by filing the present petition.

5. A Co-ordinate Bench of this Court passed the following order on 17.06.2022 while notice on the petition. “1. Notice returnable on 07.07.2022. Learned advocates appearing for the respective respondents waive service of notice.

2. Learned AGP Mr.Trivedi has submitted that the State Government is under process of taking a policy decision, which will take some time. He has submitted that the issue with regard to extension of time limit is also under consideration.

ground with regard to extension of time limit of execution of the lease deed on or before 24.04.2022. specifically stating whether they intend to extend the time, which has already expired on 24.04.2022. is being undertaken by the respondent authority shall be incorporated in the affidavits, which shall be filed on or before the next date of hearing.

6. Registry to place a copy of this order in each