Court No. - 18
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 29415 of 2018 Petitioner :- Ram Babu Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Vishal Khandelwal,Prakash Chandra Gupta Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Vijay Pratap Singh
Hon'ble Ajay Bhanot,J.
The fair price shop license of the petitioner was cancelled by the impugned order dated 04.03.2017 passed by the licensing authority. The appellate authority agreed with the findings of the licensing authority and affirmed its order in its judgement dated 22.06.2018.
Shri Vishal Khandelwal, learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the orders have been passed in breach of violation of principles of natural justice and reflect the non application of mind.
Learned Standing Counsel submits that the petitioner has been found guilty of malpractices. The findings of the authorities below are not liable to be interfered with in the writ jurisdiction.
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
A perusal of the impugned order of termination reflects that no specific findings have been returned on the charges laid out in the chargesheet. General findings have been returned against the petitioner after simply recording his defence. This reflects non application of mind of authorities below to the defence tendered by the petitioner.
The licensing authorities has also found various discrepancies in the distribution registers and the same were made the basis of cancellation of the license. Admittedly the aforesaid charges of discrepancies in the registers were not subject matter of the show cause notice. The licensing authority has travelled beyond the terms of the show cause notice. The orders passed by the authorities below are vitiated for non compliance of principles of natural justice.
The impugned order dated 22.06.2018 passed by the appellate authority does not redeem the illegalities committed by the licensing authority and merely affirmed the order of the licensing authority.
In wake of the preceding discussion, the orders passed by the authorities below are vitiated by violation of principles of natural justice and on account of non application of mind. The orders passed by the licensing authority dated 04.03.2017 as well as appellate authority dated 22.06.2018 are liable to be set aside and are set aside.
The matter is remitted to the licensing authority for fresh consideration in accordance with law.
The licensing authority shall issue a fresh show cause notice to the petitioner which shall also incorporate the additional charges of discrepancies in the distribution registers and other documents by stating material particulars of each discrepancy in the said show cause notice.
The matter shall be decided within a period of six months from the date of production of a computer generated copy of this order downloaded from the official website of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
It is clarified that this Court has not reinstated the license of the petitioner. The same shall be considered by the licensing authorities while deciding the matter finally.
It is also clarified that this Court has not gone into the merits of the case. The same shall be decided by the licensing authority, upon independent application of mind and in accordance with law.
The writ petition is allowed.
Order Date :- 24.9.2021 Dhananjai