Law: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mines and Minerals Act (XXXVI of 2017)

Section: 10,21,62

Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973

Section: 199

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mines and Minerals Act (XXXVI of 2017)-------Ss. 10, 21 & 62---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---Constitutional petition--Mining lease---Failure to apply for grant of lease---Petitioners were aggrieved of not conducting auction for grant of mining lease---Validity---Area was situated within the limits of area under the control of armed forces, thus, ordinarily organizations avoided coming forward to participate in the process---If petitioners had submitted their applications in the prescribed manner with their due acknowledgement by respondent / authorities, their cases would have been at better footing---Petitioners stood as strangers to the process of granting titles---Petitioners failed to show any application placed on the record, which was duly filled with fulfillment of key requirements for the process---Remedy under Constitutional jurisdiction is in the nature of equitable and extraordinary relief---Any party claiming such remedy must come to the Court with clean hands and do equity while seeking equity---High Court declined to interfere in the matter---Constitutional petition was dismissed, in circumstances.Creative Electronics (Pvt.) Ltd. v. Government of Pakistan through Prime Minister and others PLD 2020 Islamabad 319; Muhammad Hussain Jaffary v. Maryam Bibi 1985 CLC 451; Syed Shah v. Political Agent Bajaur Agency and 3 others PLD 1981 Peshawar 57; Ahmad Khan and others v. Custodian of Evacuee Property West Pakistan and others PLD 1963 Karachi 450; Mohammad Sajjad v. Secretary Higher Education Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir Muzaffarabad and 4 others 2023 PLC (C.S.) 735; Shabraz Shabir v. DistrictEducation Officer (Male) Elementary and Secondary Education, Muzaffarabad 2023 PLC (C.S.) 718 and Junaid Abbasi v. Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir PLD 2023 (H.C AJ&K) 116 rel.Date of hearing: 9th August, 2023.JUDGMENTDR. KHURSHID IQBAL, J.---The subject constitutional petitions originated from the grant of mining lease for phosphate in District Abbottabad. The Director General Mines and Minerals (DG M&M), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, published an Auction Notice for phosphate in three villages…