Bombay High Court
Prasenjeet Kisan Patil vs The State Of Maharashtra, Thr. ... on 4 March, 2021
Bench: V.M. Deshpande
1 WP436.21.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
: NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR.
WRIT PETITION NO. 436 OF 2021
PETITIONER : Prasenjeet Kisan Patil,
Aged 50 years, Occu. Chairman,
Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee,
Jalgaon Jamod, R/o Madakhed,
Tah. Jalgaon Jamod, Dist. Buldana.
VERSUS
RESPONDENTS : 1. The State of Maharashtra,
through its Secretary,
Department of Cooperation,
Marketing and Textile, Mantralaya,
Mumbai - 400 032.
2. The Director of Marketing,
Maharashtra, State, Pune.
3. The District Deputy Registrar,
Cooperative Societies, Buldana.
4. Shri B. N. Kolhe,
Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Society,
Shegaon, Dist. Buldana.
5. Ramesh Ninaji Umale,
Aged 60 years, Occu. Agriculture,
R/o Khandavi, Tq. Jalgaon Jamod,
Dist. Buldana.
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Mr. A. M. Ghare, Advocate for the petitioner
Mr. K. L. Dharmadhikari, A.G.P. for respondent nos.1 to 4
Mr. Ram Karode, Advocate for respondent no.5.
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CORAM : V. M. DESHPANDE, J.
DATE : MARCH 04, 2021.
ORAL JUDGMENT
2 WP436.21.odt
1. Heard Mr. A. M. Ghare, learned counsel for the petitioner,
Mr. K. L. Dharmadhikari, learned Assistant Government Pleader for
respondent nos.1 to 4 and Mr. Ram Karode, learned counsel for newly
added respondent No.5.
2. After hearing learned counsel for the respective parties,
keeping this writ petition pending will not subserve the interest of
justice. Therefore, I propose to dispose of this writ petition at the
admission stage itself. Hence, Rule. By consent, Rule is taken up for
final disposal forthwith.
3. The petitioner is the Chairman of the Agriculture Produce
Marketing Committee, Jalgaon Jamod, Dist. Buldhana. The term of
the managing committee of said APMC was to expire in the month of
June-2020. Due to the Pandemic situation, the terms was extended.
Be that as it may. On 13.01.2021, in exercise of power under Section
15-A of the Maharashtra Agriculture Produce Marketing
(Development and Regulation) Act, 1963, the respondent no.3 -
District Deputy Registrar passed an order thereby appointing
respondent no.4 as an Administrator for a period of six months or till
the newly elected body comes in office, whichever is earlier.
3 WP436.21.odt
4. The petitioner being aggrieved by the said order, filed a
statutory appeal before respondent no.2 - Director of Marketing,
Maharashtra State, Pune under section 52-B of the said Act of 1963.
The said appeal was registered as Appeal No. 02 of 2021. Along with
the appeal memo, an application for stay was also filed. The
respondent no.2, before whom the appeal was filed, took up the
application for stay for hearing and on 18.01.2021 passed the
following order :
"vtZnkjkP;k vf/koDR;kapk ;qDrhokn fopkjkr ?ksrk
izfroknh dzekad 1 ;kaps fn- 13-01-2021
jksthP;k vkns'kkP;k vaeyctko.khl iq<hy
vkns'kkP;k fnukadki;Zar Status-quo ante (;FkkiqoZ
fLFkrh) ns.;kr ;sr vkgs-
iq<hy lquko.kh fn- 04-2-2021 jksth nqikjh
2-30 oktrk Bso.;kr ;sr vkgs-"
5. The grievance raised in this writ petition by the petitioner
is that behind the back of the petitioner, on the next day i.e. on
19.01.2021, respondent no.1 took up the matter before him and
passed the following order :
"lcc ;k dk;kZy;kdMhy mijksDr ueqn
fn- 18-01-2021 jksthPks vkns'kkr va'kr% cny
d:u Status-quo ante (;FkkiqoZ fLFkrh) ckcr
fuxZfer dj.;kr vkysys vkns'k ;kn~okjs jn~n
dj.;kr ;sr vkgsr- lnj izdj.kh iq<hy lquko.kh
fn- 4-2-2021 jksth nqikjh 2-30 oktrk
Bso.;kr ;sr vkgs-"
Against this order dated 19.1.2021, present writ petition is filed.
4 WP436.21.odt
6. On 22.01.2021, notices were issued in the matter and the
parties were directed to maintain status-quo.
7. The respondent no.2, while exercising the appellate
powers, on 18.01.2021 granted interim relief in favour of the
petitioner inasmuch as stay was granted to the order dated
13.01.2021 passed by the respondent no.3 - District Deputy Registrar
thereby appointing the Administrator. On 18.01.2021 and thereafter,
the matter was kept for further hearing on 04.02.2021. In view of
this, it was but natural on the part of the petitioner to notice that the
next date of hearing will be 04.02.2021. However, without giving any
notice to the petitioner, behind his back on the next day of passing
interim order i.e. on 19.01.2021, the respondent no.2 suo motu
preponed the date from 04.02.2021 to 19.01.2021 and without giving
any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner, vacated the interim order
granted on 18.01.2021. This particular position is not at all disputed
by the learned counsel Mr. Karode for respondent no.5 before me.
8. Since, the earlier order of stay is vacated by the
respondent no.2 by preponing the date of hearing from 04.02.2021 to
19.01.2021 without giving any notice to the petitioner and vacated
the interim order without hearing the petitioner, it is a classic example
5 WP436.21.odt
of breach of principle of natural justice. It cannot stand to the
scrutiny of law. Therefore, it is required to be set aside.
9. The appeal filed on behalf of the petitioner is still
pending before respondent no.2. It is informed to this Court that on
04.02.2021, respondent no.5 herein filed an application for
intervention in Appeal No. 02 of 2021. The arguments were heard on
the said and the authority has closed the matter for orders.
10. Since, the appeal is pending, it would be in the interest of
the parties to get the said appeal decided expeditiously. Resultantly, I
pass the following order :
ORDER
1. The order passed by respondent no.2 - Director of
Marketing, Maharashtra State, Pune on 19.01.2021 in
Appeal No. 02 of 2021 is hereby quashed and set aside.
2. The order dated 18.01.2021 passed by respondent no.2
in Appeal No. 02 of 2021 is restored.
3. Respondent no.2 - Director of Marketing, Maharashtra
State, Pune is directed to decide Appeal No. 02 of 2021
on its own merits by giving opportunity of personal
hearing to the petitioner as well as the contesting
parties, within a period of three months from
6 WP436.21.odt
appearance of the parties before him.
4. The petitioner as well as respondent no.5 are hereby
directed to appear before the respondent no.2 -
Director of Marketing, Pune on 06.04.2021 at 2.30 pm.
5. Needless to mention, the order of status-quo passed by
this Court on 22.01.2021 shall remain in operation till
disposal of the appeal.
6. With these directions, the writ petition is allowed and
disposed of. Rule is made absolute accordingly. No
order as to costs.
V. M. DESHPANDE, J.
Diwale
Digitally signed
Parag by Parag
Diwale
Diwale Date:
2021.03.05
17:56:35 +0530
