Sheodhari Prasad @ Sheodhari ... vs The State Of Bihar
2022 Latest Caselaw 1203 Patna

         IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                     Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.7506 of 2021
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Sheodhari Prasad @ Sheodhari Yadav @ Shivdhari Prasad @ Shivdhari Yadav Son of Bhagwat Prasad Resident of village- Gopal Kera, P.s.- Fatehpur, District- Patna

... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. The State of Bihar through its Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar, Patna

2. The Principal Secretary, Food and Consumer Protection Department, Old Secretariat, Govt. of Bihar, patna

3. The District Magistrate, Gaya

4. The District Supply Officer, Gaya

5. The Sub Divisional Officer-cum-Licensing Authority, Sadar, Gaya

6. The Block Development Officer, Fatehpur, Gaya

7. The Circle Officer-cum-Incharge, Block Supply Officer, Fatehpur, Gaya

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr.Sanjay Kumar Sharma For the Respondent/s : Mr.Arvind Ujjwal (Sc4) ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT KUMAR SHAH ORAL JUDGMENT (Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA)

Date : 17-02-2022

The present writ petition has been filed for

quashing the order dated 04.10.2017 passed by the

Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar Gaya, whereby and

where-under the P.D.S. license of the shop of the

petitioner bearing license no. 52/07 has been cancelled

as also for quashing the order dated 16.07.2019

passed by the District Magistrate, Gaya in Supply

Appeal No. 14/19, whereby and where-under the Patna High Court CWJC No.7506 of 2021 dt.17-02-2022

appeal of the petitioner has been dismissed and the

order passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar Gaya

dated 04.10.2017 has been upheld.

2. The brief facts of the case are that pursuant

to an inspection held at the P.D.S. shop of the

petitioner on 08.06.2017 at about 11.45 AM, various

irregularities were found including non-supply of food-

grains to the consumers since the past one year, apart

from the shop of the petitioner having been found to

be closed and the petitioner being not present there.

3. It appears that an enquiry report was

submitted by the Enquiry Officer to the Sub-Divisional

Officer, Sadar Gaya on 08.06.2017, where-after an FIR

bearing Fatehpur P.S. Case No. 187/17 was lodged

against the petitioner on 12.06.2017 under Section

420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 of the EC

Act. The petitioner is stated to have been granted

anticipatory bail by the Hon'ble Patna High Court vide

order dated 05.04.2018 passed in Cr. Misc. No. 9312 of

2018.

4. It is submitted that though a show cause

notice was issued to the petitioner on 17.06.2017,

however, it is the case of the petitioner that on

account of apprehension of arrest in connection with Patna High Court CWJC No.7506 of 2021 dt.17-02-2022

the aforesaid Fatehpur P.S. Case No. 187 of 2017, he

could not file his reply, nonetheless, the Sub-Divisional

Officer, Gaya proceeded to pass the impugned order

dated 04.10.2017, whereby and where-under the

license of the P.D.S. shop of the petitioner has been

cancelled. Thereafter, the petitioner had filed an

appeal, however, the same has also stood dismissed

by an order dated 16.07.2019 passed by the learned

District Magistrate, Gaya.

5. The learned counsel for the petitioner has

submitted that a bare perusal of the appellate order

dated 16.07.2019 would show that firstly, the same is

a one sided order in as much as only the submissions

of the Special Public Prosecutor, Supply has been

considered and as far as the version of the petitioner is

concerned, there is no whisper about the same and

secondly, the appeal appears to have been rejected

merely on the ground of the same having been filed

after two years of passing of the order dated 4.10.2017

by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar Gaya.

6. Per contra, the learned counsel for the

respondent State has not been able to show from the

impugned order dated 16.07.2019 passed by the

District Magistrate, Gaya that there is any Patna High Court CWJC No.7506 of 2021 dt.17-02-2022

consideration of the defense of the petitioner or the

grounds raised in the Appeal have been dealt with.

7. Having regard to the facts and

circumstances of the case and having considered the

materials on record, we are of the considered view that

the District Magistrate, Gaya, in his order dated

16.07.2019 has committed a grave error by not

considering the stand of the petitioner as also the

grounds raised by him in his appeal to assail the order

passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Gaya dated

04.10.2017 and moreover, there is no whisper about

the case of the petitioner apart from the fact that the

entire order is one sided and has taken note of only the

submissions made by the Special Public Prosecutor,

Supply. In such view of the matter, the order dated

16.7.2019, passed by the District Magistrate, Gaya is

not only perverse but also unjust and non est in the

eyes of law, thus is quashed.

8. We thus deem it fit and proper to remand the

matter back to the learned court of District Magistrate,

Gaya, who shall grant an opportunity of hearing to the

petitioner and then pass a reasoned and a speaking

order, in accordance with law, within a period of six

weeks from the date of receipt/ production of a copy of Patna High Court CWJC No.7506 of 2021 dt.17-02-2022

this order.

9. The writ petition stands disposed of on the

aforesaid terms.

(Rajan Gupta, J)

( Mohit Kumar Shah, J) Tiwary/-

AFR/NAFR                NAFR
CAV DATE                N/A
Uploading Date          21.02.2022
Transmission Date       N/A