Allahabad High Court
Ashok Kumar & Ors. vs State Of U.P. Thru Addl. Chief ... on 16 June, 2021
Bench: Ramesh Sinha, Ved Prakash Vaish
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 10
Case :- MISC. BENCH No. - 10164 of 2021
Petitioner :- Ashok Kumar & Ors.
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru Addl. Chief Secretary, Home, Lko. & Ors.
Counsel for Petitioner :- Alok Kr. Misra
Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Ramesh Sinha,J.
Hon'ble Ved Prakash Vaish,J.
The Court has convened through Video Conferencing.
Heard Shri Alok Kumar Misra, learned counsel for the petitioners and Shri Vijendra Vikram Singh, learned AGA for the State-respondent nos.1 to 4.
The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioners, seeking quashing of the impugned F.I.R. dated 31.01.2021 lodged by opposite party no.4 as Case Crime No.019 of 2021 at police station Khodarey, District Gonda under Sections 420, 467, 468 471, 409, 120B IPC and under Section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 with a further prayer to stay the arrest of the petitioners.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has argued that the petitioner no.1 is a fair price shop dealer of village Padri Jigariya, District Gonda, whereas, petitioner nos.2 to 4 are the member of concerned Gram Panchayat.
In the enquiry report dated 11.02.2019, which has been annexed in the writ petition, the relevant paragraph 5 states that the only allegation levelled against the petitioner no.1 is for committing irregularity in the distribution of the essential commodities and the allegation against the petitioner nos.2 to 4 was that they signed over the distribution certificate and thus, they have not committed any serious offence as alleged in the impugned FIR and only baseless and vague allegations have been levelled against the petitioners just for harassment and with oblique motive, hence the present F.I.R. is liable to be quashed.
He further submits that in the enquiry report, identical allegations have been levelled against other accused persons of District Gonda, who are also fair price shop dealers, and they have been granted interim relief by this Court vide its order dated 26.03.2021 in Misc. Bench No.9409 of 2021 and the petition has been finally disposed of. Thus, the petitioner prays for same relief as granted to other accused fair price shop holders in the aforementioned case.
Learned AGA opposed the prayer for quashing of the First Information Report and submitted that a cognizable offence is made out against the petitioner in the impugned FIR and the relief as claimed by other accused fair price shop holders in Misc. Bench No.9409 of 2021 cannot be granted to the petitioners in this writ petition in view of the latest judgment of the Apex Court in Criminal Appeal No.330 of 2021 (M/s Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. vs. The State of Maharashtra and others), and therefore, the present writ petition is liable to be dismissed.
After having examined the submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned FIR, we are of the opinion that the impugned FIR discloses cognizable offence against the petitioners as after due enquiry conducted against the petitioners and various other fair price shop dealers and other persons of the Gram Panchayat, wherein irregularities and discrepancies were found in distribution of essential commodities. Moreover, the impugned FIR has been lodged after the approval of the District Magistrate concerned, hence, no interference is called for by this Court in its extraordinary power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing of the FIR or for grant of any interim relief to the petitioner and also in view of the law laid down in M/s Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. (Supra) passed by the Hon?ble Apex Court vide judgment and order dated 13.04.2021 the present writ petition is dismissed.
The party shall file computer generated copy of order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by it alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said person(s) (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number(s) to which the said Aadhar Card is linked, before the concerned Court/Authority/Official.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of the computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
(Ved Prakash Vaish, J.) (Ramesh Sinha, J.)
Order Date :- 16.6.2021
Arnima
