Bedananda Das v. The State of Assam and 9 Ors

ORDER Date : 27-01-2023 Heard Mr. D.C.K. Hazarika, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. K. Gogoi learned Additional Senior Government Advocate, Assam for the respondent nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 & 10; and Mr. R.R. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Forest Department for the respondent nos. 2, 7 & 8.

¶2The petitioner was settled with the Borgang River Mining Contract Area for Sand and Gravel no. 4 located in the Borgang River Bed near Village Kuhiarbarifor a period of 7 years vide a Letter of Intent [LoI] dated 03.03.2014 under the provisions of Assam Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2013 ['the Concession Rules', for short]. The mining permit was granted after fulfillment of number of conditions, including Environmental Clearance Certificate which is to Page No.# 4/5 be issued by the competent authority.

¶3It is the case of the petitioner that certain time was taken for such Environmental Clearance Certificate for which the petitioner was unable to extract effectively for the period for which the lease was granted. It is also the submission of the petitioner that the pandemic situation which intervened in the meantime, had also adversely affected the operation of the lease and therefore, a joint application along with similarly situated concession permit holders, had been submitted on 08.02.2021 which is yet to be acted upon. Accordingly, the instant writ petition has been filed with a direction to the authorities to duly consider the application for extension/renewal.

¶4Mr. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Forest Department has submitted that though law has prescribed that lease/mining contract can be extended, there are number of requirements under the Rules in question. By drawing the attention of this Court to Rule 19 under Chapter-4, the learned Standing Counsel, Forest Department has submitted that apart from the prescribed fee, there are a number of other requirements which, apparently, have not been fulfilled by the petitioner. Mr. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Forest Department has submitted that a bare perusal of the application would show that it is a mere communication which would not serve the purpose for a fair consideration as an application of the present nature is not even entertainable. The learned Standing Counsel, Forest Department has, however, fairly submitted that though renewal has to be prayed within a period of 18 months prior to the date of expiry, which is already over, a direction may be issued for consideration of that aspect.

¶5Mr. Hazarika, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that he may be given liberty to submit individual application in accordance with the Page No.# 5/5 Concession Rules which would be accompanied by all the requirements, including the statutory fee. Mr. Hazarika, learned counsel for the petitioner has further referred to an order dated 02.12.2022 passed in writ petition, W.P.[C] no. 7708/2022 wherein the petitioner was similarly situated like the present petitioner.

¶6I have gone through the contents of the order dated 02.12.2022 [supra].

¶7In view of the broad consensus arrived at in the Bar, the instant writ petition is disposed of by permitting the petitioner to file an application for renewal. Such application, however, is to meet all the requirements under the Rules, more specifically, the requirements mentioned in the Rule 19 of the Rules. The application, as permitted, may be submitted within a period of 1 month from today. The authorities, however, shall not reject the application on the ground that the same has not been submitted prior to 18 months of the date of expiry and the same shall be considered on its own merits. This, however, shall not act as a precedent. The competent authority being the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest & Head of Forest Force, Assam, the application be submitted before the said authority. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010236682022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/7500/2022o BEDANANDAoDASo S/O-oLATEoTEPUoRAMoDAS,oR/O-oVILL.-oNATUNGAON,oP.O.o BISWANATHGHAT,oP.S.oBISWANATHoCHARIALI,oDIST.oBISWANATH,oASSAM, PIN-o784177. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo9oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCHIEFoSECRETARY,oGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oBLOCK-C,o 3RDoFLOOR,oASSAMoSACHIVALAYA,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI,oKAMRUP(M),o ASSAM,oPIN-o781006. 2:THEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAMo-CUM-oTHEoMEMBERo SECRETARY oSEIAA oASSAM oDEPT.oOFoENVIRONMENToANDoFOREST oH-BLOCK o2NDoFLOOR oJANATAoBHAWAN oDISPUR oGUWAHATI oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM oPIN-o781006. 3:THEoSECRETARY oDEPT.oOFoMINESoANDoMINERALS oGOVT.oOFoASSAM oASSAMoSECRETARIAToBLOCK-A o1SToFLOOR oDISPUR PageoNo.#o2/5 oGUWAHATI oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM oPIN-o781006. 4:THEoCHIARMAN oSTATEoLEVELoENVIRONMENToIMPACToAUTHORITY oASSAM oBAMUNIMAIDAM oGUWAHATI oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM oPIN-o781021. 5:THEoMEMBERoSECRETARY oSEIAA oASSAM oBAMUNIMAIDAM oGUWAHATI oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM oPIN-o781021. 6:THEoDIRECTOR oDIRECTORATEoOFoGEOLOGYoANDoMINING oKAHILIPARA oGUWAHATI oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM oPIN-o781019. 7:THEoPRINCIPALoCHIEFoCONSERVATORoOFoFORESToANDoHEADoOFo FORESToFORCE oASSAM oDEPARTMENToOFoENVIRONMENToANDoFORESTS oGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM oARANYAoBHAWAN oPANJABRI oGUWAHATI oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM oPIN-o781037. 8:THEoDIVISIONALoFORESToOFFICER oSONITPUR oEASToDIVISION oBISWANATHoCHARIALI Page No.# 3/5 DIST. BISWANATH ASSAM PIN- 784176. 9:THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BISWANATH BISWANATH CHARIALI ASSAM PIN- 784176. 10:THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SONITPUR TEZPUR DIST. SONITPUR ASSAM PIN- 784001 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR D C K HAZARIKA Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY