Court No. - 59
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 67648 of 2013 Petitioner :- Jamat Ali Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Krishna Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,S.K. Srivastava
Hon'ble Surya Prakash Kesarwani,J.
Heard Shri Krishna Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri B.K.Yadav, learned Standing Counsel for the respondents.
The petitioner was the fair price shop agent of Village Shahpur Chamran, Tehsil and District Sambhal. His fair price shop licence was cancelled by the impugned order dated 25.07.2013 only on two grounds, firstly, that excess price of kerosene oil has been charged and secondly, wheat has not been distributed to the APL card holders.
Aggrieved with this order, the petitioner filed an appeal being Appeal No. 555/2012-13 under Section 28(3) of the U.P. Essential Commodities (Distribution) Control Order, 2004 before the Commissioner, Moradabad Division, Moradabad which has been dismissed by the impugned order dated 28.11.2013. Aggrieved with these two orders, the petitioner has filed this writ petition.
Although several allegations were made in the show-cause notice issued to the petitioner but only two charges are found established by the Sub Divisional Magistrate against the petitioner namely excess price charged for kerosene oil and non- distribution of wheat to APL card holders.
The first appellate authority has not even looked into the conclusion drawn by the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sambhal to cancel the fair price shop agreement. Initially the allegation against the petitioner was that he was selling kerosene oil @ Rs.17 per litre as against the fixed price of Rs.15.65 per litre. However, in the impugned order it has been mentioned that the petitioner had been charged Rs.47.10 for 03 litres. Thus, according to the respondents the petitioner had charged excess amount of 5 paise per litre.
Perusal of the show-cause notice and both the impugned orders shows that the petitioner was never confronted with any material that he is charging excess price of kerosene oil by 5 paise per litre. In the impugned orders the respondents have also not disputed the policy of distribution of wheat on first come first serve basis. No discrepancy in the stock register or in the physical stock checking was found. Under the aforesaid circumstances, the findings recorded in the impugned orders with regard to non-distribution of wheat to APL card holders cannot be sustained.
Thus the only surviving ground for cancellation of fair price shop agreement of the petitioner remains the finding of charging extra 5 paise per litre for distribution of kerosene oil. However, no specific show-cause notice was issued to the petitioner on this ground. Thus principle of natural justice has been violated.
In view of the aforesaid the impugned orders cannot be sustained and are hereby quashed.
Matter is remitted back to the respondent no. 3 (Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sambhal, District Sambhal) to pass an order afresh in accordance with law within two months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order, after giving opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner on the question of excess charging of price of kerosene oil by 5 paise per litre.
With the aforesaid direction, the writ petition is allowed.
Order Date :- 30.1.2019 VR