- (1.) THE petitioners seek to challenge a tender notice issued by the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway, district Moradabad by which bids have been invited upto 25 March 2014 for the allotment of refreshment rooms at four Railway Stations. Of them, the subject matter of the petition is the Hapur railway station, which is listed as a Category 'A' Station. The petitioners seek a mandamus directing the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Northern Railway to transfer the earlier licence which was held by their mother in their favour.
(2.) WE have heard learned counsel for the petitioners, Sri Tarun Verma and Sri Sudhir Bharti, learned counsel appearing for the respondents.
(3.) INITIALLY , the father of the petitioners and after his lifetime, the mother of the petitioners held a licence for conducting a refreshment room at Hapur Railway Station. An earlier writ petition was filed before this Court by the second petitioner to challenge an order dated 14 May 2013 issued by the Station Superintendent directing the closure of the refreshment room which was conducted by the petitioners' mother, who had, in the meantime, died on 23 April 2013. The Division Bench in its order dated 27 May 2013 recorded the statement in the counter that the contract of the mother of the petitioners in respect of the refreshment room had come to an end on 14 May 2005 and moreover, the kitchen was found to be in a very filthy and unhygienic condition. In the mean time, following a joint surprise check by the team of officials of CBI, ACB Ghaziabad together with the officials of the Vigilance Department of the Northern Railway, a First Information Report was lodged. The Division Bench made the following observations in regard to what was found during the course of the joint surprise check: "In the joint surprise check the team found that the kitchen occupied by Smt. Noorjahan Begum -vending contractor was very filthy and in a very unhygienic state. Bags of rotten potatoes were kept in the kitchen. Large number of empty liquor bottles were lying scattered here and there. In the kitchen cooked Puris and Potatoes were packed in paper boxes and kept in ready state for distribution. The paper boxes contained marking Uttar Railway (in Hindi), Indian Railway (in English), with Logo of Indian Railways "Price Rs.10/ -. The paper boxes bearing fake property marks of "Indian Railways" containing unhygienic food were being allowed to be sold to the railway passengers. In addition staff of Smt. Noorjahan Begum in the kitchen was being allowed to work without the valid medical certificate. The petitioner has not denied that a joint inspection was made nor has denied the knowledge of the contents of the report. He has not made any protest nor denied the observations of the joint inspection team. He did not request for any opportunity to be given to explain the circumstances in which such sorry state of affairs was found in the kitchen. The vending of food in trains is a serious affair as the passengers do not have any choice except to buy food from the licensed vendor. A strict vigil should be kept on the quality of food served by these vendors. In the aforesaid circumstances, we do not find any merit in the claim of the petitioner to be considered for renewal of license as heir of late Noorjahan Begum and to allow him an opportunity to meet the observations made by the joint inspection team.";