Court No. - 5
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 20425 of 2019 Petitioner :- M/S Shiv Ganga Stone Crusher Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Pratik Chandra,Utkarsh Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Surya Prakash Kesarwani,J. Hon'ble Pankaj Bhatia,J.
Although the petitioner has challenged the Vires of the Uttar Pradesh Mineral (Prevention of Illegal Mining Transportation and storage) (First Amendment) Rules 2019 and the Government Order dated 9.3.2019, but the learned counsel for the petitioner concedes that validity of the aforesaid Amendment Rules has already been upheld by Division Bench of this Court by judgment dated 31.5.2019 in Writ - C No.14286 of 2019 (M/s. Sunrise Stone Crusher Pvt. Ltd. State Of U.P. and 3 Other) and other connected writ petitions. Now he submits that since Rule 17(c) of the Rules 2018 as amended by the First Amendment Rules, 2019 has been read down, therefore, the benefit thereof should also be extended by the respondents to the petitioner but they are not extending that benefit to the petitioner on the ground that it shall confine to the petitioners of those writ petitions.
The operative portion of the judgment dated 31.5.2019, passed by the Division Bench in the Case of M/s. Sunrise Stone Crusher Pvt. Ltd.(supra) is reproduced below:-
"For all the reasons mentioned above, we are of the considered opinion that the First Amendment Rules, 2019 inserting Rule 17 in the Rules, 2018 is valid and intra vires. But we read down Rule 17(c) of the Rules, 2018, wherein three months' time from 20th December, 2018 has been provided to dispose of the entire material. In our view, it would be just and fair to extend the period. Hence, the period provided under the Rules, 2018, for the reasons discussed above, is extended upto 30th June, 2019. The petitioners are permitted to dispose of their stored material till 30th June, 2019 and no action shall be taken against them till the said date. Since we have read down Rule 17 (c) of the Rules, 2018, any coercive action including seizure taken against the petitioners under the Rules, 2018 after expiry of the period mentioned in Rule 17 (c) stands set aside. "
Sri Neeraj Tripathi, leaned Additional Advocate General states that the judgment in the case of M/s. Sunrise Stone Crusher Pvt. Ltd.(supra) reading down the provisions of Rule 17(c) of the Rules shall extend to all persons and, therefore, the petitioner shall also get benefit of the reading down of the provisions of Rule 17(c) of the Division Bench in the aforesaid judgment.
In view of the statement made by learned Additional Advocate General as aforenoted, no cause of action survives in the present writ petition. The petitioner shall be entitled for the benefit of Rule 17(c) of the Rules as per judgment of the Division Bench in the Case of M/s. Sunrise Stone Crusher Pvt. Ltd. (supra).
The writ petition is disposed of.
Order Date :- 20.6.2019/vkg