appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated 2 12 1975 of the andhra pradesh high companyrt in criminal misc.
building and companystruction purposes and as such were minumber minerals which were specifically excluded from the purview of the rules.
p. rao k. narayan rao and g. n. rao for the respondent.
criminal appellate jurisdiction criminal appeal number 261 of 1976.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by jaswant singh j. the appellants who are directors of tandur and navandgi stone quarries private limited and holders of a mining lease for extraction of lime stones shahabad stones are being prosecuted in the companyrt of munsif judicial magistrate first class tandur for the alleged violation of rule 21 1 ii of the mineral conservation and development rules 1958 which is made punishable under rule 27 of the said rules in that they failed to employ a qualified geologist or a mining engineer.
they made an application before the trial magistrate urging by way of preliminary objection that the companyplaint against them was number maintainable in view of the fact that the shahabad stones which were being extracted by them were used fol.
petition number 2064/75.
rules 1966 the complaint against them was number tenable.
v. patel naunitlal and miss kiran singh for the appellants.
the appellants thereupon moved the high companyrt for quashing the aforesaid criminal proceedings pending against them reiterating that as the shahabad stones which they were extracting were used for building purposes and were described as minumber minerals in item 15 of schedule i to the andhra pradesh minumber mineral companycession rules 1966 hereinafter referred to as m.m.c.
