Court No. - 10
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 1083 of 2020 Petitioner :- Mohd Asim Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Brijesh Kumar Pandey Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Km. Surabhi,Sudeep Kumar
Hon'ble Siddhartha Varma,J.
Upon certain complaints being made, the District Magistrate on 24.6.2019 got the complaints inquired into and the Supply Inspector on 28.6.2019 took the statements of around 20 individuals. The statements themselves were treated as charges and the petitioner was required to show cause vide order dated 16.7.2019 and along with the show cause notice, he had also to submit the original sale records and stock records of the past three months. To the show cause notice, the petitioner submitted his reply on 27.7.2019. When the Sub Divisional Officer was not satisfied with the reply he on 22.8.2019 cancelled the licence of the petitioner's fair price shop. The petitioner filed an Appeal and when the Appeal was also dismissed on 2.12.2019, the instant writ petition has been filed.
The followings are the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioner:-
I. The petitioner had submitted a reply and had categorically submitted that the persons who had given their statements at serial no. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 20 were not card holders who were attached to the petitioners' shop and with regard to other charges, the petitioner had submitted that the supply of essential commodities was being made as per law and the charges were, in fact, not proved.
II. It is the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that no enquiry as per the Government Orders dated 29.7.2004 and 16.10.2014 was undertaken. No place, date and time was fixed where the petitioner could have cross-examined the respondents. The petitioner further submits that even the petitioner could not produce his witnesses who would have deposed in his favour.
III. The petitioner submits that even if before the Sub Divisional Officer, he had stated that the complainants at serial numbers 1, 2, 3, , 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18 and 20 were not attached to the fair price shop of the petitioner, in fact, before the Appellate Court he had stated that a few of the card holders though were attached to his shop their cards were valid only till the month of June, 2019. They were, in fact, not taking the essential commodities, from his shop. In this regard, he had also made complaints before the relevant authorities and this, aspect of the matter was also not considered by the Appellate Court.
Learned Standing Counsel, however, in reply, has submitted that upon finding that the show cause submitted by the petitioner was not to the satisfaction of the Sub Divisional Officer, the fair price shop was rightly cancelled and, therefore, no interference be made in this writ petition.
Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel, the Court is definitely of the view that the Sub Divisional Officer and also the Appellate Court dealt with the reply of the petitioner irresponsibly in a very slipshod manner even if no enquiry was conducted. The reply was not looked into in its right perspective. The Appellate Court had decided the appeal without going into the various submissions which were raised by the petitioner. Further the Court finds that there was no enquiry worth the name as was required to be undergone as per the Government Orders dated 29.7.2004 and 16.10.2014. The Court, therefore, finds that the orders impugned were in violation of principles of natural justice.
Under such circumstances,the order dated 2.12.2019 passed by the Commissioner Moradabad Mandal Moradabad and the order dated 22.8.2019 passed by the respondent no. 3, the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Tehsil - Sadar, District - Moradabad, cannot be sustained in the eyes of law and therefore are set aside. However setting aside of the orders would not automatically restore the shop of the petitioners.
The Sub Divisional Officer shall within a period of three months once again as per the prevailing Government Orders conduct a fresh enquiry after issuing a proper show cause notice as is envisaged in the Government Order dated 5.8.2019. This process shall be completed within a period of three months from the date of production of a copy of this order. The copy of this order would be duly certified by the petitioners' counsel.
For a period of three months or till the conclusion of the enquiry, whichever is earlier the essential commodities shall continue to be distributed in the manner they are being distributed as of today.
With these observations, the writ petition is partly allowed.
Order Date :- 25.10.2021 PK (Siddhartha Varma,J.)