Allahabad High Court
Haseen Jahan vs State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. ... on 23 January, 2023
Bench: Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Saurabh Srivastava
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
RESERVED
Court No. - 9
Case :- SPECIAL APPEAL No. - 469 of 2022
Appellant :- Haseen Jahan
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Food And Civil Supply Deptt. Civil Secrt. U.P. Lko. And Others
Counsel for Appellant :- Manoj Kumar Singh,Dadu Ram Shukla (D.R. Shukla )
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya,J.
Hon'ble Saurabh Srivastava,J.
This intra-court appeal seeks to impeach the judgment and order dated 20.10.2022 passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ-C No.5601 of 2022, whereby the writ petition has been dismissed.
At this juncture itself we may state that by instituting the proceedings of Writ-C No.5601 of 2022 the appellant-petitioner had made the following prayers:
"1. to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the opposite parties particularly O. P. No.3 and 4 Up Ziladhikari, Gonda and District Supply Officer, Gonda to let the petitioner distribute the remaining food grains and other Essential Commodities amongst Card Holders forthwith.
2. Alternatively, it is also prayed that in case the petitioner's prayer for distribution of remaining Essential Commodities does not find favour, the distribution of food grains and other Essential Commodities be permitted to be distributed through the attached Fair Price Shop O.P. No.6 or any other agency so that the Essential Commodities/Food Grains may not be wasted."
The appellant-petitioner was granted license of a fair price shop in the year 2020. On 29.04.2022 at 12.00 noon a surprise inspection of the premises of the appellant-petitioner, which consists of five rooms where food grains and other essential commodities are said to be stored, was conducted. The petitioner's license was suspended on 02.05.2022 by means of an order passed by the District Supply Officer, Gonda and an F.I.R. was also lodged against the appellant-petitioner at Case Crime No.61 of 2022, under section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955, Police Station-Khargupur, District-Gonda on 01.05.2022. Subsequently, by means of an order dated 23.06.2022 passed by the District Supply Officer, Gonda certain food items which are said to have been kept in the other room of the godown of the appellant-petitioner were given in lqiqnZxh of Titharath Ram, another license holder of the fair price shop at Village Panchayat-Pipra Bhodhar, Development Block-Rupaideeh, District-Gonda.
The appellant-petitioner filed Writ-C No.5601 of 2022 with the prayers as aforequoted stating therein that the appellant-petitioner be permitted to distribute the remaining food grains and other essential commodities i.e. 29.80 quintals of wheat, 16.60 quintals of rice, 4kg of refined oil, 11kg of gram and 8 kg of salt. The petitioner also prayed, as noticed above, that in case prayer no.1 is not granted, the said food grains and essential commodities be handed over to the opposite party no.6 in the writ petition, namely, Tirath Ram a fair price shop holder at Village Panchayat Pipra Bhodhar, Development Block-Rupaideeh, District-Gonda. It was submitted by the appellant-petitioner that there was no complaint of any kind of any irregularity by any beneficiary card holder, however, unlawfully her license has been suspended. It was also pleaded by the appellant-petitioner that essential commodities being stored by the appellant-petitioner are perishable items and hence she may be permitted to either distribute the same herself or a direction may be issued to Teerath Ram to distribute the same.
Learned Single Judge while considering the claim of the appellant-petitioner in the light of the submissions made by the learned State Counsel came to the conclusion that after considering the admission made by the appellant-petitioner at the time of inspection that nothing was found in the rooms which were locked, as also after lodging of the F.I.R. it appears that the appellant-petitioner herself has placed the food grains and other essential commodities in her premises. Learned Single Judge also concluded that as to whether the food grains were lying in the locked room at the time of inspection or they were kept by the -appellant-petitioner herself after lodging of the F.I.R. is an issue which is under investigation by the investigating agency and any order in relation to such food grains, may affect the investigation. Thus, learned Single Judge refused to grant the prayers and dismissed the writ petition.
Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused the record available before us, what we find is that the fact as to whether the food grains and the other essential commodities were kept in the locked room in the premises of the appellant-petitioner or they were put there after lodging of the F.I.R. by the appellant-petitioner herself with a view to wriggle out of the criminal case, is a matter of investigation of the F.I.R. which has been lodged against the appellant-petitioner under section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act. Any direction as sought by the appellant-petitioner for disposal of the food grains may affect the investigation, as in our opinion, there is possibility of investigation being thwarted in case the food grains and essential commodities are permitted to be removed. Disposal of such food grains or essential commodity, if any, should accordingly be permitted only once the investigation of the F.I.R. is concluded.
We, thus, are not in agreement with the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant-petitioner. Accordingly endorse the view taken by the learned Single Judge.
Special appeal is resultantly dismissed.
However, there will be no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 23.01.2023.
akhilesh/
