IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.12265 of 2009 Between: Shaik Sardar, S/o. Razak Saheb, R/o. D.No. 20-1/415/3A, Subhashnagar Street, Korlagunta, Tirupathi Town, Chittoor District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Civil Supplies Department, Secretariat Buildings, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 2 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary, B.C. Welfare Department, Secretariat Buildings, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 3 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its District Collector, Chittoor, Chittoor District. 4 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirupathi, Chittoor District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.T.C.KRISHNAN Counsel for the Respondents:AGP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a mandamus to declare the action of respondent No.4 in not reserving fair price shops for Muslim minorities in Tirupathi Urban Mandal, Chittoor District, as illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional. Heard Sri T.C.Krishnan, learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies and perused the record. The petitioner claims to be an unemployed person belonging to Islam religion. He felt aggrieved by notification, dated 15.11.2008 issued by respondent No.4 notifying several vacancies of fair price shops in Tirupathi Urban Mandal. His grievance is that while reservations were made in respect of different social communities such as SC, ST, BC, BC Women etc., no reservation is provided for Muslim minorities. According to the petitioner, such an action is contrary to the provisions of Article 16 of the Constitution of India. At the hearing, the learned counsel for the petitioner admitted that the fair price shop dealership does not fall within the expression of “posts” borne by any cadre of the State or Subordinate services. He also admits that so far no statutory provision is made or executive instructions are issued by the State to provide reservation for Muslim minorities in the appointments of fair price shop dealers. Therefore, the affirmative provision of Article 16 of the Constitution of India cannot be pressed into service to demand reservation for Muslim minorities in the matter of appointments as fair price shop dealers. It is for the State to consider the requests/demands of any aggrieved community and take a policy decision and it is not within the domain of this Court to give any direction to the State in this regard in the absence of any constitutional or statutory right in the petitioner. For the above-mentioned reasons, the writ petition is dismissed. As a sequel to dismissal of main petition, WPMP.No.15839 of 2009 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 24th JUNE, 2009. kvni