IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO : 17517 of 2009 Between: Sree Ramakrishna Seeds, and others. . .Petitioners And The Joint Collector, Chittoor District and others. .. Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO.17517 OF 2009 ORDER : The petitioners filed this Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the respondent No.4 in seizing the paddy seeds BPT 5204 variety of 570 bags each contains 30 kgs totaling to 171 quintals worth of Rs.3,81,900/- through panchanama dated 14.08.2009 even though the said paddy seeds do not come under the purview of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Commodities (Licensing, Storage and Regulation) Order, 2008 (for short ‘Control Order, 2008’) even though the respondent No.4 has no power to seize the same and also seizing the lorry bearing No.AP 03 X 0252 belong to the petitioner No.3, is nothing but arbitrary and illegal and consequently direct the respondents to release the said stocks and the vehicle. 2) The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that since the seized stocks are only paddy seeds, but not paddy, the said proceedings initiated by the respondents are without jurisdiction. In this context, this Court directed the learned Assistant Government Pleader to get instructions as to whether the paddy seeds also come within the ambit of the Control Order, 2008. Today when this matter taken up for hearing, the learned Assistant Government Pleader fairly conceded that the provisions of the Control Order, 2008 do not cover the paddy seeds. 3) In that view of the matter, as the said orders and the seizure are under the provisions of the Control Order, 2008, this Court has no hesitation to come to the conclusion that the said proceedings are without jurisdiction. 4) Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed at the stage of admission and the orders dated 14.08.2009 passed in the Panchanama is hereby set aside and the seized stock as well the lorry bearing No.AP 03 X 0252 shall be released forthwith in favour of the respective petitioners. However, this order does not preclude the competent authority to initiate necessary proceedings under the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Commodities Dealers (Licensing, Storage and Regulation) Order, 2008. There shall be no order as to costs. __________________________ (GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA, J) August 24, 2009 KSH/AMD