- (1.) This writ petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioner against the respondents on 16-12-1992 with a prayer that by an appropriate writ, order or direction, the show cause notice dated 21-7-1992 (Annexure 3) issued by the Regional Forest Officer, Gadi (Partapur) be quashed.
(2.) It arises in the following circumstances : i) That the petitioner applied for quarry licence in the year 1981 and the same was granted to him on 4-1-1982 and right from that date, every year this quarry licence was renewed according to the provisions contained in Rule 26 of the Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1986. A copy of the licence is Annexure 1. ii) That the petitioner applied for renewal of licence on 23-12-1991 for 1-1-1992 to 31-12-1992 and the same was granted to the petitioner and he was directed to deposit an amount of Rs. 275.00 for the same which was deposited by him on 23-12-1991. (iii) The further case of the petitioner is that the petitioner received a show cause notice dated 21-7-1992 (Annexure 3) issued by Regional Forest Officer, Gadi (respondent No. 3) whereby the petitioner was directed to submit the mining patta, the map of the area along with demarcation line and he was further directed to close the operation of removing the limestone from the Pahari. It was further mentioned in the show cause notice dated 21-7-1992 (Annexure 3) that during survey, it was found that this area comes within the area of forest. (iv) It is further submitted that the show cause notice dated 21-7-1992 (Annexure 3) was issued by the respondent No. 3 under the powers conferred by Section 72(b) of the Forest Act, 1953 and according to the petitioner, he has apprehension that because of the intervention of the Forest Department, Mines Department might not renew his lease and hence this writ petition with the prayer just stated above.
(3.) Reply to the writ petition was also filed by the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 on 17-12-1993.;