JUDGMENT :

L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.

Leave granted.

1. The width and amplitude of the expression ‘commercial site’ in Section 2(5) and Section 81 (1) (q) of the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 1963 (for short “the Act”) falls for our consideration in these Appeals. Commercial sites are exempted from the purview of the Act. The question whether a rocky land which is used for quarrying purposes can be treated as a ‘commercial site’ and thereby excluded from the applicability of the Act was answered by a learned Single Judge of the Kerala High Court by holding that mere blasting of rocks and conversion into metals does not render the area a commercial site. K. Krishnankutty vs. State of Kerala and Others, CRP No. 1245/1975. Twenty years after the said judgment, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court took a different view. Quarrying was held to be a commercial operation involving the process of manufacture. Hence, it was held that a quarry falls within the ambit of ‘commercial site’ and is exempted from the applicability of the Act. State of Kerala vs. Mohammedali Haji, (1996) 1 KLT 584 (DB).

2. The Appellant requested environmental clearance for his quarry which was recommended in his favour by th