Quarry lease applications create no vested right; delayed challenge to rejection failed after the enabling rule was repealed.

An application for a quarry lease confers no vested right, so it must be considered under the law in force when it is disposed of. Because the enabling Rule 39 had been repealed before the writ petition was filed, the basis for insisting on consideration under that rule no longer existed and no enforceable right survived. The challenge was also defeated by inordinate and unexplained delay, as the rejection order dated 1996 was assailed only in 2003. On those facts, the challenge failed on laches and on merits, and no relief was available.

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Issues: Whether the writ petition challenging rejection of the quarry lease application under Rule 39 of the Tamil Nadu Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1959 was barred by delay and, in any event, whether any relief could survive after repeal of the rule under which the application was made.

Analysis: The challenge to the rejection order was brought after an inordinate and unexplained delay of several years. The order rejecting the application had been passed in 1996, yet the writ petition was filed only in 2003. The long lapse of time was found to be fatal on the facts of the case. Independently of delay, Rule 39 had already been repealed before the writ petition was filed. Since quarry lease is not a matter in which any applicant has a vested right, the application had to be governed by the law in force on the date of its disposal. Once the enabling rule itself stood repealed, the foundation for seeking consideration under that rule disappeared and no enforceable right remained.

Conclusion: The challenge failed both on laches and on merits. The appellant was not entitled to any relief, and the appeal was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: An application for grant of mining or quarry lease confers no vested right, and where the enabling rule is repealed before disposal of the matter, the application must be decided under the law then in force; an inordinately delayed challenge to such rejection is liable to fail.

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