THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.SATYANARAYANA MURTHY
WRIT PETITION No.9383 OF 2021
ORDER:-
This petition is filed under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India, seeking the following relief:-
"... to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ order or
direction, declaring the action of the respondents in not supplying the
essential commodities to petitioner's Fair Price Shop No.0742007 of Ghantavaripalem village, Savalyapuram Mandal, Guntur District, as illegal and arbitrary and issue consequential direction to the respondents to supply essential commodities to petitioner's Fair Price Shop No.0742007 of Ghantavaripalem village forthwith and pass such other orders...."
2. The case of the petitioner is that he was appointed as Fair Price Shop Dealer for the Shop No.0742007 of Ghantavaripalem village, Savalyapuram Mandal, Guntur District on 12.09.2011. Since the date of appointment, he has been distributing the essential commodities to the cardholders without any complaint so far. On 25.02.2021, the Fair Price Shop of the petitioner was inspected by the respondent authorities and found everything in order.
3. Again on 24.03.2021, the petitioner's Fair Price shop was inspected and seized the stock by the respondent authorities, and after inspection, the respondents discontinued the supply of essential commodities to the petitioner's Fair Price Shop without there being any suspension or cancellation of authorization exercising the power under Clause 8(4) of the A.P. State Targeted (Public Distribution System) Control order, 2018 (for short "Control Order 2018").
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4. The main grievance of the petitioner before this Court is that in the absence of any order of suspension or termination of the authorization of this petitioner exercising the power under Clause 8(4) of Control Order 2018, the respondents are bound to supply the essential commodities to the petitioner's shop for distributing the same to the cardholders allotted to his shop. The petitioner also raised several contentions which are not relevant for deciding the present issue as the issue involved in this case is limited in view of the law declared by the Full Bench of this Court in Oleti Tirupathamma vs District Supply Officer (City)1 .
5. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies appearing for the respondents.
6. During hearing, learned counsel for the petitioner reiterated the contentions. Whereas, the respondents did not file any counter, but submitted that, a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner calling for explanation before passing appropriate order. But till date, no explanation was submitted by the petitioner. Therefore, taking advantage of latches on the part of the petitioner, the petition is filed, thereby the question of supplying the essential commodities to the petitioner's shop does not arise and requested to dismiss the Writ Petition.
7. As seen from the material on record, undoubtedly, an inspection was conducted by the respondent authorities and seized the stock under the cover of Panchanama, but no order of 1 2002 (1) ALD 577 3 suspension or termination of authorization by exercising the power under Clause 8(4) of Control Order 2018 is passed till date.
8. It is the case of the respondents that when disciplinary proceedings are initiated against this petitioner, only a show cause notice was issued calling for explanation of this petitioner, but no explanation was submitted by the petitioner so far. Therefore, the respondents did not dispute the seizure of the commodities etc. But the undisputed fact is that no order of suspension or termination of authorization of this petitioner exercising power under Clause 8(4) of Control Order 2018 is passed as on date. In the absence of any order under Clause 8(4) of Control Order 2018, the 2nd respondent is bound to supply the essential commodities to the petitioner for distributing the same to the cardholders allotted to his shop in view of law declared by the full bench of this Court in Oleti Tirupatamma's case referred supra, where the full bench of this court held that "stoppage of essential commodities without suspending the license of this petitioner is not justified."
9. In the facts of the above Judgment, the authorization was expired and therefore the Court declined to issue a direction for supply of essential commodities. In the present case, the authorization is subsisting and no suspension or termination of authorization was passed under Clause 8(4) of Control Order, 2018. Thereby, the respondents are bound to supply essential commodities to the shop of this petitioner to distribute the same to the cardholders allotted to his shop, subject to payment of price of the essential commodities. The action of the respondent is contrary to the law laid down by the full bench of this Court 4 and consequently, I find that the direction be issued to supply of essential commodities to the petitioner's shop No.0742007 of Ghantavaripalem village, Savalyapuram Mandal, Guntur District, till passing appropriate orders under Clause 8(4) of Control Order 2018 or final order in the disciplinary proceedings under Clause 20(2) of Control Order 2018, in accordance with law.
10. With the above direction, the Writ Petition is disposed of at the stage of admission with the consent of both the parties. However, this order will not preclude the respondents to take appropriate action either under Clause 8(4) or 20(2) of Control Order, 2018. No order as to costs.
Miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, in this Writ Petition shall stand closed.
_________________________________________ JUSTICE M.SATYANARAYANA MURTHY Date : 06-05-2021 Gvl 5 THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE M.SATYANARAYANA MURTHY WRIT PETITION No.9383 OF 2021 Date : 06.05.2021 Gvl