Court No. - 10
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 35619 of 2018 Petitioner :- Shiv Charan Lal Respondent :- State Of U P And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Surendra Pal Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Saral Srivastava,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the State respondents.
The petitioner in the present petition has challenged the order dated 20.09.2018 passed by the Deputy Commissioner (Food), Bareilly Division, Bareilly in Appeal No.276 of 2018 whereby he has rejected the stay application of the petitioner.
The petitioner claims to be fair price shop agent of Gram Panchayat Firozpur, Block Baheri, District Bareilly.
There were certain complaints against the petitioner in distribution of essential commodities and taking cognizance of those complaint, licensing authority initiated enquiry proceedings against the petitioner for cancellation of license of fair price shop.
Show cause notice was issued to the petitioner and the petitioner submitted reply to the said show cause notice.
The licensing authority was not satisfied with the explanation of the petitioner and passed an order dated 12.09.2018 cancelling the license of petitioner. The licensing authority recorded a finding that the petitioner has made cutting and used fluid to make entries in the sale register of kerosene oil from serial nos.366 to 378 of the month May, 2018. The licensing authority further recorded that though the petitioner was required to distribute 3.5 litres kerosene oil to each card holders but he had distributed only 2 litre kerosene oil. On the basis of aforesaid finding, the license of the petitioner was cancelled.
Feeling aggrieved by the order of the licensing authority, the petitioner preferred appeal against the cancellation order. The petitioner also filed stay application alongwith appeal with the prayer that the order of licensing authority cancelling the license may be stayed during the pendency of the appeal.
The appellate authority vide order dated 20.09.2018 rejected the stay application noticing the fact that the charges against the petitioner on which the license was cancelled were serious in nature, and hence, the petitioner could not make out a case for grant of any relief.
The appellate authority further directed to summon the record of case for hearing of the matter.
Challenging the finding of the appellate authority, learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that the order passed by appellate authority is without application of mind inasmuch as the appellate authority has failed to consider that the order of the licensing authority is in violation of principles of natural justice and as such is not sustainable, hence, the petitioner has made out a case for grant of interim order.
Per contra, learned Standing Counsel submits that the appellant authority has recorded a specific finding that the charges against the petitioner are serious and he has failed to make out prima facie case for grant of interim order.
I have considered the rival submissions of the parties and perused the record.
The license of the petitioner has been cancelled primarily on the ground that the petitioner has made cutting and has used fluid for making entries in the sale register of kerosene oil from serial nos.366 to 378 in the month of May, 2018. Further, the licensing authority has recorded the finding that the petitioner has distributed less quantity of oil than he was supposed to distribute.
Considering the finding of the licensing authority in cancelling the license of the petitioner, this Court is of the opinion that the order of the appellate authority rejecting the stay application on the ground that the petitioner has failed to make out any interim order is just and does not call for interference by this Court in exercise of power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Hence, the writ petition lacks merit and is dismissed.
However, it is provided that the appellate authority shall not be influenced by any observation made herein above while deciding the appeal on merits.
With the aforesaid observation, the writ petition is dismissed. Order Date :- 26.10.2018/S.Sharma