A Division Bench of the Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday set aside an interim order passed by a single judge of the court on December 22 permitting PRP Granites to export granite mined by it from quarries in districts other than Madurai.
Disposing of a writ appeal preferred by the State, Justices S. Tamilvanan and V.S. Ravi agreed with Advocate General A.L. Somayaji that the interim order passed by the single judge amounted to granting the main relief sought by the granite firm in their writ petition.
In order to keep a quietus to the issue, the Division Bench ordered that the granite company’s writ petition may be placed before the judge holding the writ portfolio at present for disposing it of as expeditiously as possible and preferably within four weeks.
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Directing the respondent in the writ petition to file his counter affidavit before the single judge within two weeks, the Division Bench also ordered that both the parties to the case shall maintain status quo as on date until the disposal of the writ petition.
During the course of arguments, Mr. Somayaji said that the single judge had passed the interim order right on the second date of hearing of the writ petition without even affording an opportunity to the official respondent to contest the case by filing a counter affidavit.
On the other hand, senior counsel V.T. Gopalan, appearing for the granite firm, said that the officials were not entitled to file a writ appeal against an interim order passed by a single judge. He also argued that the officials were bound to obey every other order passed by the court.
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Claiming that a Deputy Superintendent of Police had written letters to port trusts in Chennai and Tuticorin to desist from implementing the single judge’s order just because the State had gone on appeal against the order, he said “such a conduct amounts to contempt of court.”