Hon'ble Vivek Kumar Birla,J.
Heard Sri V.M. Zaidi, learned senior counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel for the respondents no.1 and 2 and Sri Rahul Sahai for the respondent no.5.
The petitioner contends that he is holding a cattle market on every Tuesday and Saturday over his bhumidhari plot in Village Asaladnagar Devbarampur, Pargana and Tehsil Chhibramau, District Kannauj. According to the petitioner it is a century old market and after the formation of local bodies the petitioner has also taken permission from the Nagar Palika Parishad, Chhibramau, permitting the petitioner to hold the said cattle market.
In the present case, the Zila Panchayat, Kannauj, granted a licence in favour of the respondent no.5 to hold a cattle market on the same days within the same vicinity. The petitioner felt aggrieved inasmuch as according to the petitioner the respondent no.5 could not have been permitted or granted licence by the Zila Panchayat for holding a cattle market on the same days as is being held by the petitioner under the permission of the Nagar Palika Parishad, Chhibramau.
A complaint was made by the petitioner on 17.2.2004 on which the licence granted to the respondent no.5 was suspended and after receiving a report from the Executive Officer the impugned order dated 25.2.2014 has been passed rejecting the said complaint of the petitioner and informing the respondent no.5 that his licence would now become operative with immediate effect.
It is this order which has been challenged by the petitioner and Sri Zaidi submits that such a licence which has been granted by the respondent-Zila Panchayat is in violation of its own bye-laws. Sri Zaidi submits that since no bye-laws of Zila Panchayat, Kannauj, have been framed, the bye-laws of District Farrukhabad from which Kannauj has been carved out, continue to be operative. He relies upon a Division Bench judgment in Writ Petition No.61958 of 2013, decided on 13.11.2013 for the said purpose.
Assuming for the sake of arguments as urged by Sri Zaidi that the said position is correct, it is clear that the note which is appended to the said bye-laws clearly recites that for the same days only one licence will be granted within the periphery of 3 kms. Thus, there is a clear mandate under the bye-laws that one licence be granted for particular days within an area, the radius whereof is 3 kms. The aforesaid contention of Sri Zaidi if accepted, prohibits the grant of any other licence by the Zila Panchayat for holding of a cattle market.
Having perused the same what we find on record is that the petitioner, admittedly, does not have any licence from the Zila Panchayat under the said bye-laws on which reliance is being placed by the petitioner. There is only a permission dated 31.3.2011 from the Nagar Palika Parishad, Chhibramau, which falls within the Zila Panchayat of Kannauj which is in the nature of a no objection, and is not a license of the Zila Panchayat.
The aforesaid permission, therefore, does not amount to grant of licence under the bye-laws at least which are applicable within the Zila Panchayat of District Kannauj.
The judgment as relied upon by the petitioner himself carves out a restriction only if there is another licence holder within the radius of 3 kms. The petitioner admittedly is not a licence holder and therefore the plea raised that the respondent no.5 cannot be granted a licence by the Zila Panchayat is unacceptable. Sri Zaidi has also relied on a Division Bench Judgment of this Court in the case of Vijay Malik and another Vs. State of U.P. and others, 2008 (1) UPLBEC 324. Having perused the same on facts we find that the said case is clearly distinguishable as against the case of the petitioner inasmuch as in paragraph 8 of the said judgment it is categorically indicated that the dispute was between two competing licence holders of the Zila Panchayat. In the instant case the petitioner does not hold any licence from the Zila Panchayat and, therefore, the ratio of the said decision is not attracted herein. It is not the case of the petitioner that the Zila Panchayat has no authority to grant license.
Apart from this the Zila Panchayat being a local body and now having a constitutional status is empowered to grant any licence as per the bye-laws of District Farrukhabad which would continue to apply. In such circumstances, in the absence of any licence in faovur of the petitioner the plea raised cannot be accepted. The impugned order does not therefore suffer from any legal or factual infirmity.
Sri Zaidi insisted that the impugned order proceeds on the basis of a report which is manipulated. Learned counsel for the petitioner has been unable to place any material to demonstrate as to how the report is manipulated when the petitioner himself is not a licence holder.
Consequently, we are not inclined to entertain this writ petition. Rejected.
The dismissal of this writ petition does not prevent the petitioner from moving an application for grant of licence before the Zila Panchayat if it is otherwise permissible under the bye-laws.
Order Date :- 27.3.2014 Anand Sri./-