JUDGMENT :

The cause in these writ petitions has its genesis in a Bench judgment of this Court in Binoy Kumar Vs. State of Kerala (2019 (2) KLT 227), which has inexorably postulated that the person holding a valid Mining Lease from the Government can only extract that amount of mineral which is specifically permitted under it and no more.

2. The petitioners in these cases, who claim to be holding valid Mining Leases, contend that, notwithstanding the specification of the quantity of the minerals that can be prospected under the said leases, they are legally entitled to extract such quantity of it as is permitted under the Mining Plans approved by the competent Authority under Section 5(2)(b) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for short). They assert that this contention had not been impelled and consequently, not considered in Binoy Kumar (supra).

3. It is this singular issue which this Court is now called upon to answer in these writ petitions.

4. The petitioners in these cases, which are being heard together on account of the comparable factual matrix presented therein and the similarity in the reliefs sought, are st