R.K.RASTOGI,J. - (1.) THE petitioners in all these 32 writ petitions were licensees of the fair price shops. Their licences have been cancelled on the ground that either they themselves or their wives or other family members had been elected as Pradhan of the Gaon Sabha. In writ petition No. 12850 of 2003 the wife of the petitioner was elected as Pradhan in the year 2000 and so his licence was cancelled on 26 -10 -2002. In writ petition No. 16070 of 2006 the wife of the petitioner was elected as Pradhan in the year 2000 and re -elected in 2005, and so his licence was cancelled on 17 -8 -2000. Thereafter his representation was also rejected on 27 -12 -2005. In the remaining writ petitions the petitioners or their family members became Pradhan in the election held in the year 2005. A chart showing the date of elections, the relationship of the Pradhan with the petitioners as well as the date of cancellation orders is as follows: S. No. W.P. No. Election date Relationship Cancellation 1. 12850/03 25 -6 -2000 Wife 26 -10 -02 2. 722532/05 Sept.2005 Wife 20 -9 -05 3. 73380/05 2005 Wife alleged to be divorced on 17 -10 -03 28 -9 -05 4. 76585/05 7 -9 -2005 Self 19 -9 -05 5. 77294/05 28 -8 -05 Son 26 -11 -05 6. 77665/05 29 -8 -2005 Wife 20 -9 -05 7. 2443/06 Aug. 2005 Wife 11 -11 -05 8. 3629/06 2005 Wife 7 -1 -06 9. 6308/06 2005 Wife 20 -9 -05 10. 6456/06 28 -8 -2005 Self 19 -11 -05 11. 8503/06 19 -8 -2005 Wife 11 -9 -05 12. 8723/06 28 -8 -2005 Son 30 -12 -05 13. 9386/06 2005 Wife 12 -1 -06 14. 10392/06 2005 Self 8 -2 -06 15. 12431/06 2005 Wife 17 -1 -06 16. 13124/06 28 -8 -2005 Wife 16 -9 -05 17. 13923/06 28 -8 -2005 Wife 22 -12 -05 18. 13961/06 28 -9 -2005 Self 16 -9 -05 19. 14414/06 2005 Self 17 -10 -05 20. 15564/06 2005 Self 8 -2 -06 21. 16070/06 2000 and 05 Wife 27 -2 -06 22. 16793/06 Aug. 2005 Wife 23 -12 -05 23. 17301/06 Sep. 2005 Father 24 -12 -05 24. 17757/06 Sept. 2005 Wife 17 -1 -06 25 18084/06 2005 Wife 9 -3 -06 26. 18746/06 Sept. 2005 Wife 25 -3 -06 27. 19278/06 28 -8 -05 Mother 27 -3 -06 28. 19358/06 2005 Self 10 -3 -06 29. 20081/06 2005 Wife 9 -3 -05 30. 21424/06 2005 Wife 3/4 -3 -06 31. 24239/06 2005 Wife 5 -4 -06 32. 24993/06 2005 Wife 5 -10 -05
(2.) THE Parliament enacted the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (the Act). Section 3 of the Act empowers the Central Government to enact different Control Orders. Section 5 of the Act empowers the Central Government to delegate this power to the State Governments also and the Central Government has accordingly delegated this power to the State Governments. Then the State of U.P. enacted the U.P. Scheduled Commodities (Regulation of Distribution) Order, 1990 (the 1990 Order) for equitable distribution of essential commodities. Section 3 of the 1990 Order provided for setting up of fair price shops and Section 4 of this Order permits the State Government to issue directions for running of these shops. The State Government by G.O. dated 3 - 7 -1990 issued an Order for grant and running of fair price shops. Under the 1990 Order a person, who was an elected Pradhan or Up - Pradhan of Gaon Sabha and his family members, were prohibited from getting licence of fair price shop. This G.O. was subsequently modified by the G.O. dated 18 -7 -2002 which provides that the licence of fair price shop will be cancelled in case the licensee or his family members as mentioned therein are elected as Pradhan or Up -Pradhan. It is in pursuance of this amended Order that the action of cancellation of licence is purported to have been taken. The State Government substituted the U.P. Scheduled Commodities Distribution Order, 1990 by issuing the new order in 2004 termed as the U.P. Scheduled Commodities Distribution Order, 2004. The present action has been taken in all the writ petitions (except writ petitions No. 12850 of 2003 and 16070 of 2006) after enforcement of the new Order of 2004. The action of cancellation of licence in writ petition No. 12850 of 2003 had been taken under the 1990 Order and the same action of cancellation in writ petition No. 16070 of 2006 was also taken under the 1990 Order on election of the wife of the licensee as Pradhan in 2000. She was re -elected as Pradhan in 2005 and the representation of the petitioner was rejected on 27 -12 -2005.
(3.) WE have heard Mr. S.D. Dubey, Mr. Manoj Misra, Ms. Sufia Saba, Mr. R.J. Misra, Mr. J.P. Gupta, Mr. Deepak Jaiswal, Mr. Devendra Kumar, Mr. D.R. Azad, Mr. Jyoti Bhushan, Mr. S.M. Iqbal Hassan and Mr. Irshad, learned Counsel for the petitioners and the learned Standing Counsel for the State Government as well as for State Officers, Mr. Anuj Kumar and Mr. V.K. Singh, learned Counsel for the Gram Panchayats and Mr. Deepak Jaiswal and Mr. Gulab Chand for the private respondents.;