Court No. - 33
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 42520 of 2018 Petitioner :- Mohammad Shanu Respondent :- State Of U P And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Gulab Chandra Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned standing counsel for the respondents.
The instant petition has been filed challenging the letters dated 13.12.2018 and 14.12.2018 issued by the Chief Fire Officer, Kannauj and the Commercial Tax Officer, Kannauj respectively, by which, for renewal of the Cinema license in favour of D Touring Cineplex, the petitioner has been required to furnish on line no objection certificate from the Electricity Department as well as the Fire Department of the District.
The case of the petitioner is, that, earlier the petitioner was granted license for a period of six months, which was to expire on 18.12.2018. Thereafter, for renewal of the licence for a further period of six months, he deposited requisite fee through challan in the State Bank of India, Branch Saraimeer, District Kannauj on 4.12.2018 and the necessary formalities were completed offline. But, on the basis of G.O. dated 01.11.2018 application has to be submitted online. The grievance of the petitioner is that new online procedure and other requirements cannot be applied to renewal of licences granted prior to the issuance of the Government Order.
The learned standing counsel has submitted that the licenses are renewed on application submitted online and licensee has to submit requisite no objection certificates from the Fire Department as well as Electricity Department. It has been submitted that licencse is not to be granted without ensuring safety of the audience.
We have considered the submissions and have perused the records.
From the documents brought on record, it does not appear that the license has been renewed unconditionally. The document at page 35-37 of the paper book is undated and it only discloses that Fire officer, Kannauj has issued some certificate. If it is so, the petitioner can submit the certificate online as required by impugned letters. Merely because the petitioner, as per policy, has been required to submit documents online, in our view, no cause to challenge such a demand has arisen, particularly, when it would ensure transparency and obviate underhand dealings.
The petition is therefore misconceived and is dismissed with liberty to petitioner to seek for renewal of license by submitting all the necessary documents online.
Order Date :- 20.12.2018 AKJ