Application For Renewal Of Quarry Lease Can Be Made On Next Day If Last Date For Applying Was Holiday: Karnataka High Court

The Petitioner had approached the High Court impugning an order passed by the Joint Director and Revision Authority, Department of Mines and Geology, South Zone, Mysuru [Revisional Authority]. The petitioner also challenged the Rejection Order passed by the Senior Geologist, whereby the petitioner’s application for quarry lease in respect of lease No.138 for mining building stones, in an area covering one acre falling in Survey No.43, Chikka Nagavalli Village in Chikkaballapur District, was rejected.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Joshi held, “It is clear from the plain language of Section 10 of the 1899 Act that where any act or proceedings is allowed to be done or taken in any court or office on certain day and if the court or office is closed on that day, the act shall be considered as done if it is done on the next day on which the court or office is open. The last date on which the petitioner could make an application with penalty was 29.12.2013. Since the same was a holiday, the petitioner could make the application on the day following, that is, on 30.12.2013. Thus, the contention that the petitioner’s application for renewal was made after expiry of the said period, is unsustainable.”

Advocate Bhat Ganapathy Narayan represented the Petitioner while Government Advocate K.S. Harish represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The petitioner claimed that he was carrying on the business of quarrying building stones pursuant to a quarry lease/licence in an area of one acre. The said quarry lease was initially granted to one Shri Doddachinnappa [original lessee] for a period of ten years with effect from December 30, 2003. The term of the lease expired in 2013. Prior to the expiry of the said lease, the original lessee made an application before the Senior Geologist for transfer of the licence/lease in favour of the petitioner. The said application was accepted and the transfer was made in favour of the petitioner. The petitioner made an application for the renewal of the quarry lease in 2013, which was rejected by an order. The petitioner challenged the said rejection order before the Revisional Authority, but the same was rejected.

The petitioner claimed that the same was not communicated to him, and he was informed about the rejection only when he visited the office of the Senior Geologist in the month of September 2019. He claimed that immediately, on receiving a copy of the impugned order, he filed the revision petition. The petitioner's application for renewal was rejected on the ground that it was not filed prior to the expiry of the lease. It was the petitioner’s case that he had applied for the renewal of the quarry lease/licence on December 30, 2013, as December 29 was a Sunday and therefore, a holiday.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that since the term of the lease expired on December 29, 2013, the period of ninety days within which the application for renewal of the lease was required to be made would necessarily have to be reckoned from midnight on December 29, 2013. As per the Bench, since ninety days were to be calculated backwards from the end of the term of the lease, the starting point for calculating the said period would be from 12 AM on December 29, 2013, being the date of expiry of the said licence.

The Bench also made a reference to Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1994 and stated, “The aforesaid reasoning may be considered in determining the period for making an application under Rule 21 of the 1994 Rules. As noted above, in terms of Sub-rule (2) of Rule 21 of the Rules, 1994, the said application is required to be made “on or before ninety days before the expiry of the lease”. This period of ninety days will include 29.12.2013, which was the last date of the term of the lease as explained by the Court in M/s.Robo Silicon Limited (supra). The period of ninety days cannot be calculated by concluding the last date of the lease. Therefore, 29.12.2013 would be the first day of the period of ninety days within which the application for renewal was required to be made.”

As per the Bench, the petitioner had not made an application within the period as stipulated under Sub-rule (2) of Rule 21 of the 1994 Rules. However, the petitioner was entitled to make a delayed application on payment of a penalty.

The Bench further explained that Sub-rule (1) of Rule 53 of the Rules, 1994 permits the revision application to be made within a period of 90 days from the date of communication of the order dated January 18, 2014. It was the petitioner’s case that the rejection order dated January 18, 2014, was not communicated to him. He had, thereafter, obtained a copy of the same by making an application under the RTI Act. The impugned order did not indicate that the said issue was considered by the Revisional Authority. The Bench found no material on record to establish that the order of rejection was communicated to the petitioner.

The Bench thus set aside the impugned order and remanded the matter to the Revisional Authority to consider it afresh.

Cause Title: M/S. Annapurneshwari Minerals v. The State of Karnataka (Case No.: Writ Petition No.265 Of 2021 (GM-MM-S)

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