- (1.) THE prayer, in substance, is that the District Magistrate, Jaunpur, may be commanded to appoint the petitioners as agents of the State Government for the purposes of selling essential commodities at a fair price shop in the rural area of the district of Jaunpur.
(2.) IT is alleged that the petitioners' applications are pending before the District Magistrate, Jaunpur and no orders are being passed thereon. There is no allegation that the applications have been processed by the Goan Sabha concerned, as required by Government Order dated 3-7-1990. IT is urged at the Bar that the petitioners had given their applications to the District Magistrate on the basis of the order dated 5-3-1991 passed by us in a writ petition filed by one Mukti Narain Singh. Learned counsel for the petitioners urged that in view of the said order the District Magistrate alone, without taking into account the recommendation of the Goan Sabha, is the competent authority to appoint the petitioners as agent. It appears to us that the Government Order dated 3-7-1990 was either not placed before us in its proper perspective or in any view of the matter we failed to appreciate its import while passing our order on 5-3- 1991. We feel that on 5-3-1991 we had passed a wrong order. After perusing the contents of the Government Order dated 3-7-1990 with care, we are satisfied that the statutory order passed on 3-7-1990, viz. U. P. Scheduled Commodities (Regulation of Distribution) Order, 1990, cannot be read in isolation of the Government Order dated 3-7-1990 in the matter of the appointment of an agent in a rural area. Really, the Government Order dated 3-7-1990 supplements the statutory order of that date. In the normal course, the petitioners should have been directed to make applications to the District Magistrate through the Gaon Sabha concerned. However, having regard to the special facts and circumstances of this case, we direct the District Magistrate to forward the applications of the petitioners to the Gaon Sabha concerned. This should be done as expeditiously as possible. The Goan Sabha concerned after processing the applications of the petitioners and after giving its recommendations, if it decides to recommend the appointment of the petitioners as an agent, shall return the same to the District Magistrate, who will thereafter pass an appropriate order.
(3.) WITH these directions, the writ petition is finally disposed of. A certified copy of this order be issued to the learned counsel for the petitioners on payment of usual charges within a week.;