Deemed licence claims fail where the applicant evades service and cannot show bona fide pursuit of relief.

A deemed licence under Section 236 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act could not be claimed where the applicant deliberately avoided service of the Panchayat's communication and then relied on the deeming provision. The Court also noted that the petitioner's own documents showed the crusher-unit application date as 08.02.2016, making the contrary assertion misleading. In these circumstances, the writ petition was treated as lacking bona fides, and exclusion of time under Section 14 of the Limitation Act was not available on that basis. The petitioner was left to pursue the alternate remedy, subject to limitation, and the Panchayat's action remained undisturbed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to a deemed license for the crusher unit under Section 236 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, and whether the writ petition could be entertained in view of the petitioner's conduct and the availability of alternate remedy.

Analysis: The application for the quarry unit could not be pursued for want of environmental clearance and was not pressed. As regards the crusher unit, the Court found that the petitioner had deliberately avoided service of the Panchayat's communication and then attempted to claim the benefit of the deeming provision. The materials also showed that the petitioner's own documents reflected the application date as 08.02.2016, and the contrary plea that the application was dated 02.02.2016 was found to be misleading. In these circumstances, the Court held that the writ petition was not a bona fide proceeding and that the petitioner could not invoke Section 14 of the Limitation Act on that basis. The petitioner was left to pursue the alternate remedy, subject to limitation.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to the benefit of deemed license or writ relief, and the challenge was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed on merits and on the petitioner's inability to establish bona fide pursuit of relief, leaving the Panchayat's action undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: The benefit of a deeming provision and exclusion of time under the Limitation Act cannot be claimed by a party who deliberately evades communication and lacks bona fides in prosecuting the proceeding.

---