- (1.) This Letters Patent Appeal is preferred against the order passed in W.P.(C) No. 5368 of 2002 dated 10.09.2003 in and by which, the letter issued by Sales Manager (Legal) of the appellant dated 08.09.2003 was recorded and direction was issued to the authorities to strictly abide with the assurances made therein. The respondent is a Hard Coke manufacturer commonly known as Cookeries. The respondent entered into an agreement with the appellants on 31.05.1980 for a period of 24 months for supply of coal and it continued to produce Hard Coke since 1980 till 1997. The unit of the respondent is said to have suffered some set back beyond their control which included breakdown of their infrastructure etc. and therefore they could neither book nor lift coal after November, 1997 and on 29.01.1998 the respondent informed the Chief General Manager (Sales), Bharat Coking Coal Limited, Dhanbad that the unit of the respondent had been closed and in case of resuming the functioning of the unit, they would be informing the appellant later on. The respondent unit remained closed till about June, 2001 whereafter, the respondent unit returned to normalcy and expressed his desire of restarting his unit all over again. The respondent expressed their desire of re-starting their unit by letter dated 22.08.2001 to the Chief General Manager (S&M), BCCL, Dhanbad. By the order dated 12.12.2001, the appellant informed the respondent that the matter has been examined and since the respondent had not booked/lifted any coal from BCCL continuously for more than 36 consecutive months, the respondent's linkage, as per the terms and conditions, lapsed permanently.
(2.) Challenging the said communication, the respondent filed W.P.(C) No. 3568 of 2001. The said writ petition was disposed of vide order dated 06.03.2002 directing the respondents to file a representation and further directing the appellant to consider the representation filed by the respondent in the light of the observation made in the order dated 06.03.2002 and also with a direction that the case of the respondent should be looked into sympathetically. In pursuance to the said order, the respondent filed a representation before the appellant on 18.03.2002. The appellant passed the order on 21.08.2002 stating that since the respondent had not lifted coal from November, 1997 which is more than 36 months consecutively, under the condition of the linkage order, said linkage ipso facto lapsed permanently.
(3.) Challenging the said order dated 21.08.2002, the respondent filed W.P.(C) No. 5368 of 2002 to set aside the order dated 21.08.2002 and to issue direction to the appellant to immediately release the monthly allotted quota of coking coal to the respondent. In the said writ petition the appellant produced a letter dated 08.09.2003 in which the Sales Manager (Legal) has informed that the competent authority has been pleased to resume coal supply to the unit from the month of September, 2003. Referring to the said letter dated 08.09.2003 passed by the Sales Manager (Legal), the learned Single Judge disposed of the writ petition W.P.(C) No. 5368 of 2002 vide dated 10.09.2003 observing that the writ application has become infructuous and therefore, no further order need be passed in the case.;