CANARA MINERALS PRIVATE LTD Vs. DIRECTOR OF MINES AND GEOLOGY GOVERNMENT OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On October 13/17, 1962, respondent 3 made an application under Section 10 of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957, to the State Government for the grant of a prospecting licence. On November 20, 1963, the petitioner before us made a similar application in respect of the same area. Since the mineral in respect of which the prospecting licence was sought was a mineral specified in the first schedule to the Act, the prospecting licence could not be granted by the State Government except with the previous approval of the Government of India.

(2.) On December 23, 1964, the State Government sought the approval of the Government sought the approval of the Government of India for the grant of the prospecting licence to respondent 3 and that approval was accorded by the Government of India on May 21, 1965 although the area in respect of which it was proposed to grant the prospecting licence was less than the area mentioned in the application.

(3.) Meanwhile, since no order had been passed on the petitioner's application and since Rule 11 of the Mineral Concession Rules 1960 provides that an application for the grant of a prospecting licence shall be disposed of within nine months and that if it is not so disposed of, it shall be deemed to have been refused, the petitioner whose application had not been disposed of within that period of nine months, presented a revision petition to the Government of India under Rule 54 of those Rules on the hypothesis that his application had been refused.