I N THE HI GH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD HON’BLE MRS. JUSTI CE SUREPALLI NANDA WRI T PETI TI ON No.11709 OF 2026 DATE: 17.04.2026 Between :

Sri Challapalli Srinivasa Rao …Petitioner And The State of Telangana, Represented by its Secretary, Environment, Forests, Science & Technology Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad and others … Respondents

ORDER

Heard Sri Venkata Satyanarayana Rama Prasad Ch, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Environment appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos.1 to 4 and the learned Government Pleader for Mines and Geology appearing on behalf of the respondent Nos.5 to 7.

2. The petitioner approached the Court seeking prayer as under:

“…to issue an order, Writ or Order or Direction, particularly one in nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the arbitrary action of the respondent no.2 to 4 in not granting Environment Clearance Certificate in connection with the conducting of Quarry operations by the petitioner in respect of patta land to an extent of 02 hectares situated at Sy.No.179 of Mallemadugu Village, Khammam Urban Mandal, Khammam District, without considering the 4^th respondent proceedings vide Lr.No.1/SEIAA/TG/GEN/2024-87, dated 11.12.2025, including without considering petitioner’s online application dated 01.02.2025 filed under Old Rules Proceeding No.F.No.4/TS/PCB/EC/SEIAA/ Gen/2015, dated 11.06.2020, and erroneously rejected by following the new rules vide Proceeding No.F.No.1/SEIAA/TG/Gen/2024, dated 20.05.2025, knowing fully that the said rules are prospective in nature, is illegal, void and opposed to Articles 14, 19, 21 & 300-A of Constitution of India; and consequently to direct the respondent no.2 to 4 to grant environment clearance certificate in favour of the petitioner’s land to an extent of 02 hectares situated at Sy.No.179 of, Mallemadugu Village, Khammam Urban Mandal, Khammam District, as per old rules dated 11.06.2020, since the petitioner online application is dated 01.02.2025 and pass......”

3. The case of the petitioner in brief as per the averments made in the affidavit filed by the petitioner in support of the present Writ Petition is as under:-

i) The petitioner is the absolute owner and possessor of patta land admeasuring 2.00 hectares in Sy. No.179 of Mallemadugu Village, Khammam Urban Mandal, Khammam District, which is non-agricultural and suitable for quarry operations.

ii) The petitioner applied for grant of quarry lease on 11.07.2024, and after due verification and receipt of necessary NOCs, the competent authority issued a Letter of Intent (LOI) on 28.08.2024 directing the petitioner to obtain Environmental Clearance (EC). The quarry plan was subsequently approved on 30.11.2024.

iii) Pursuant thereto, the petitioner submitted an online application for grant of EC on 01.02.2025 under the then prevailing (old) rules dated 11.06.2020. While the application was pending, new rules were introduced on 20.05.2025, which are prospective in nature. Inspite of the same, the respondent authorities, instead of considering the petitioner’s application under the old rules, applied the new rules and imposed additional conditions. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner approached this Court by filing the present writ petition.

PERUSED THE RECORD:

DI SCUSSI ON AND CONCLUSI ON:

4. The limited relief as prayed for by the petitioner in the present writ petition is a direction to respondent Nos. 2 to 4 to pass appropriate orders on the petitioner’s online application dated 01.02.2025 for grant of an Environmental Clearance Certificate for conducting quarry operations in respect of the petitioner’s patta land admeasuring 2 hectares, situated in Sy. No.179 of Mallemadugu Village, Khammam Urban Mandal, Khammam District.

5. It is the specific case of the petitioner that the application dated 01.02.2025 was submitted in accordance with the rules existing as on that date for consideration of the petitioner’s request for grant of an