HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE R.SUBHASH REDDY Writ Petition No.26482 of 2008 Date: November 8, 2011 Between: Kota Omkaram, S/o.V.Veerabhadraiah … Petitioner And The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary, Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies (CS-I) Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad and others … Respondents Order: Petitioner, a fair price shop dealer, questions the order dated 21.10.2008 passed in Rc.No.2348/2008/S1, by the 2nd respondent-District Collector, Guntur. By the said order, the 2nd respondent approved the proposal of the 3rd respondent-Sub Collector for bifurcation of 7 new fair price shops in Bapatla Town of Guntur District apart from some other places. This writ petition is filed mainly on the ground that the bifurcation proposal approved by the 2nd respondent is contrary to the guidelines issued by the Government vide G.O.Ms.No.35 dated 17.09.2007. It is contended by Sri K.Srinivas, learned counsel for the petitioner, that presently the petitioner holds authorisation for the fair price shop of Bapatla Town, to which 926 cards are attached and after bifurcation of the said shop into two, he will be left with only 464 cards; as such the bifurcation is in violation of the guidelines issued in the aforesaid G.O. It is submitted that as per the said guidelines, the petitioner is entitled to have not less than 500 BPL cards attached to his shop. I have perused the impugned order passed by the 2nd respondent-District Collector vide proceedings Rc.No.2348/2008/S1, wherein a table is drawn indicating the number of cards existing in various fair price shops in Bapatla Town and also the total number of cards which will be available after bifurcation of existing shops. So far as the present writ petition is concerned, the petitioner claims that totally 926 cards are attached to his shop and as a result of bifurcation, he will be left with 464 cards. While it is true that as per the guidelines issued in the G.O., in question, each fair price shop should have not less than 500 cards, it is to be noticed that if the fair price shop of the petitioner is bifurcated into two shops, one of the shops must be with less than 500 cards. Merely because 26 cards are less, as a result of the bifurcation, no right will accrue to the petitioner to seek invalidation of the impugned order. The guidelines issued by the Government are in the nature of instructions. In any event, it is to be noted that public interest, which is of utmost importance, is to be kept in mind. In view of larger public interest involved and as much as it is stated in the counter-affidavit that the Food Advisory Committee constituted for the purpose of bifurcation has also approved such bifurcation, keeping in mind the interest of cardholders, I do not find any merit in this writ petition, which warrants interference under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Writ petition is accordingly dismissed. No costs. _____________________ (R.SUBHASH REDDY, J) November 8, 2011 MRR