Lands assigned for specific purposes under the Kerala Government Land Assignment Act cannot be repurposed for quarrying, and the government maintains rights over subjacent minerals.

J U D G M E N T

[W.P.(C) Nos. 11249/2010, 26458/2014, 35030/2016, 335/2017, 17010/2017, 12389/2018, 8244/2019, 8913/2019, 10754/2019, 34020/2019, 3012/2020, 4070/2020, 11627/2020, 17240/2020, 8203/2021, 16223/2021, 16880/2021, 18523/2021, 25475/2021, 25917/2021, 29510/2021, 30550/2021, and W.A. Nos. 1434/2017, 477/2018, 478/2018, 480/2018, 663/2018, 712/2018, 713/2018, 714/2018, 1453/2019, 1397/2020, 1145/2020 & 8/2022]

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SHAJI P. CHALY The captioned writ petitions and intra court appeals are materially connected in regard to the grant of, or application submitted for quarrying lease, by or before the State Government; the stop memos issued thereunder by the revenue authorities; the rejection of applications for quarrying etc., in the lands specially assigned for cultivation, or house sites or beneficial enjoyment of adjoining lands or for other specific and special purposes, under the Kerala Government Land Assignment Act, 1960 (hereinafter referred to, as 'the Act, 1960'), and the rules framed thereunder; such as the Kerala Land Assignment Rules, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules, 1964'), the Special Rules for Assignment of Government Lands for Rubber Cultivation, 1960, and the Arable Forest Land Assignment Rules, 1970.

2. Most of the writ petitions before us, are consequent to the reference orders passed by learned single Judges dated 12.07.2019 & 15.02.2022, the reason for which would be specified later. Some are public interest litigation against the quarrying operations conducted in the assigned lands.

3. In all the cases filed by the quarry operators, they are the purchasers of lands from primary assignees, which is undisputed. In fact, the Rules of Assignment under the Rules specified above, relating to reservation of rights of the Government, and to mine and quarries, subjacent to the assigned lands, are materially one and the same. In the rules, State Government have reserved its share to mines and quarries, subjacent to the land in its favour; which thus means, the assignment was made by the Government to primary assignees, to use the topsoil of the assigned land for cultivation or house construction or for beneficial enjoyment of adjoining lands. The rules in regard to the same; the clauses contained in Appendix I and II of Rule 9 of the Rules, 1964; and the other Rules specified above, will be discussed later.

4. In fact, the purchasers of the lands assigned under the rules specified above, claim that they are entitled to conduct quarrying operations, in accordance with the Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2015 , formulated by the State Government, by virtue of the powers conferred under Section 15 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation), Act, 1957, a Central enactment. (1A)(e) of the Act, 1957 deals with the procedure for obtaining quarry leases, mining leases or other mineral concessions.

5. Section 3 (c) of the Act, 1957 defines mining lease as a lease granted for the purpose of undertaking mining operations, and includes a sub-lease granted for such purpose.

6. Rule 4 of the Kerala Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2015 deals with the application for quarrying permit. Section 4 (2)(c) of the Rules, 2015 provides for a certificate from the Village Officer concerned to the effect that the land in respect of which quarrying permit is applied for, is not assigned for any special purpose by the department of Land Revenue. Rule 27 of the Rules, 2015 deals with an application for grant or renewal of a quarrying lease, which shall be made to the competent authority in Form 'B’, and among other conditions, it insists for a certificate from the Village Officer concerned to the effect that the land applied for quarrying lease, is not assigned for any special purpose by the department of Land Revenue.

7. In fact, in some of the cases, based on the application submitted by the purchasers of the lands assigned, quarrying leases/permits were granted by the authorities