Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Progressive And Popular Minerals ... vs State Of Rajasthan And Ors on 23 April, 2021
Bench: Vijay Bishnoi
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 4736/2017
Progressive And Popular Minerals Pvt. Ltd., Sawa District
Chittorgarh Through Its Power Of Attorney, Resident Of C-4,
Kumbha Nagar, Chittorgarh.
----Petitioner
Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan Through The Principal Secretary To
The Government Of Rajasthan, Mines Department, Jaipur.
2. The Director Of Mines And Geology Department, Udaipur.
3. The Additional Director Mines, Mines And Geology
Department, Udaipur Circle, Udaipur.
4. The Mining Engineer, Mines And Geology Department,
Chittorgarh.
5. The Mining Engineer, Mines And Geology Department,
Bhilwara
6. The Assistant Mining Engineer, Mines And Geology
Department, Nimbahera, District Chittorgarh.
7. Smt. Tamanna Begun W/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan,
8. Mohd. Saeed S/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan,
9. Juned Khan S/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan,
10. Mohd. Javed Khan S/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan,
11. Smt. Shabana Khan D/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan W/o
Sh. Sajid Kalam,
12. Smt. Shabnam Khan D/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan W/o.
Sh. Sajid Ali Alias Sayed Sajid
13. Smt. Saeedan Begun Mother Of Late Shri Mohd. Sher
Khan W/o Late Shri Gulbaz Khan,
14. Smt. Tanuja Khan D/o Late Shri Mohd. Sher Khan W/o
Sh. Dilnawaz Khan, All Respondent Nos 7 To 14 Are
Residents Of Village Sawa, District Chittorgarh.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. D.D. Thanvi (through VC)
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sandeep Shah, AAG (through VC)
Mr. Sudhir Saruparia (through VC)
(D.B. SAW/993/2017 has been filed in this matter. Please refer the same for further orders)
(2 of 3) [CW-4736/2017]
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJAY BISHNOI
Judgment / Order
23/04/2021
The matter comes up for consideration of application (1/21)
preferred on behalf of respondent Nos.1 to 6 with a prayer that
the respondent-State may kindly be allowed to withdraw/pump
out the water accumulated in the mining pits of Mining Leases
Nos.6/93, 5/97 and 24/2004 to be used by the Hindustan Zinc
Limited in its unit and for other ancillary purposes.
Mr. Sandeep Shah, AAG has submitted that the lease deeds
issued in respect of the above referred mining leases were
cancelled by the State Government vide order dated 14.03.2017,
against which, this writ petition has been preferred and this Court
vide interim order dated 26.05.2017 has ordered for maintaining
the status quo in respect of the above referred mining leases
along with others while observing that the possession of the same
has already been taken by the State.
Learned counsel has submitted that the mining leases are
situated near Chittorgarh Town, which is facing acute shortage of
drinking water due to less rainfall and for many other reasons. It
is further submitted that the District Collector along with the other
authorities of the Public Health and Engineering Department has
pondered over the situation and found that the above referred
mining leases comprising huge area, where huge quantity of water
is accumulated in the mining pits and the said water can very well
be pumped out so that the problem of water scarcity may be
solved to some extent.
Learned counsel Mr. Shah, AAG has, therefore, submitted
that the respondent-State Authorities may be allowed to pump out
(D.B. SAW/993/2017 has been filed in this matter. Please refer the same for further orders)
(3 of 3) [CW-4736/2017]
the water accumulated in the mining pits of the mining leases
Nos.6/93, 5/97 and 24/2004.
Mr. D.D. Thanvi, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner
has submitted that he has received no instructions from his client
as the person looking after the litigation is probably suffering from
COVID-19. He, therefore, prays for some time to complete his
instructions.
Having heard learned counsel for the parties and after going
through the material available on record, this Court finds that the
possession of mining leases has already been taken over by the
State Government and at present no mining activities are being
carried out. In such circumstances if huge quantity of water,
accumulated in the mining pits of the above referred mining leases
is allowed to be pumped out to meet the demand of water supply
for the city of Chittorgarh, it may serve the public cause with no
harm to any of the party to the litigation.
Hence, the application (1/21) is allowed and the respondent-
State is allowed to withdraw/pump out the water accumulated in
the mining pits of mining leases Nos.6/93, 5/97 and 24/2004.
However, it is also made clear that the respondents shall not
allow any other activities such as the mining etc. over the mining
leases in question till pendency of this writ petition.
(VIJAY BISHNOI),J
21-Arun/-
(D.B. SAW/993/2017 has been filed in this matter. Please refer the same for further orders)
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