IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.14532 of 2009 Between: M/S Sree Sitaramanjaneya Par Boiled Rice Mill D.No.5-84/B,Nuzvid By Pass Road,Mylavaram, Rep.by its Partner Sri Juluru Venkata Nageswara Rao S/o.Venkata Ramachandra Rao,Hindu(30) Years Mylavaram(M) Krishna District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The District Collector, Collectorate Campus, Machilipatnam, Krishna District 2 The District Manager, A.P State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, Vijayawada, Krishna District 3 The Assistant Grain Purchasing Officer, Vijayawada, Krishna District 4 The Inspector of Police Vigilance and Enforcement Dpartment Vijayawada, Krishna District .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.PALIVELA SATYARAJA BABA FOR MR.NARASIMHA RAO GUDISEVA Counsel for Respondents Nos.1 to 3: AGP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES Counsel for Respondent No.4: AGP FOR HOME The Court made the following : ORDER: This Writ Petition is filed for a Mandamus to declare Order, dated 14-07-2009, of respondent No.1 whereby he directed sale of 3494.70 quintals of paddy of BPT variety, after milling and converting the same into rice, in the open market at the rate of Rs.20/- per kg, and release of the remaining seized stock on the petitioner furnishing Bank Guarantee for 10% of the total value of Rs.37,83,528/-, pending proceedings under Section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (for short ‘the Act’) as illegal. On 21-07-2009, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies has taken time for instructions. Today, I have heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 3. A perusal of the impugned Order shows that the ‘B’ register of the petitioner showed the stock of 42,035.70 quintals of paddy while ground balance in the mill was found to be 42,443.85 quintals with variation of (+) 408.15 quintals. Even according to respondent No.1, the permissible variation for paddy was 2522.14 quintals (+) or (-). However, in respect of boiled and broken rice, the variation was found to be beyond the permissible limits. In view of the fact that the entire paddy including the BPT variety was found to be within the permissible limits of variation, I do not find any justification, whatsoever, for ordering sale of the said variety of paddy. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is partly allowed setting aside the impugned Order of respondent No.1 to the extent of the direction contained therein, to convert the BPT variety paddy into rice and sell the same in open market at the rate of Rs.20/- per kg. The respondents are directed not to sell the said variety of paddy and allow it to remain in the place where it is stored under the custody of respondent No.1, till disposal of the proceedings under Section 6-A of the Act. The remaining part of the Order of respondent No.1, impugned in this Writ Petition, is upheld. However, respondent No.1 is directed to complete the proceedings under Section 6-A of the Act within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. At the request of the learned Counsel for the petitioner, time for furnishing Bank Guarantee is extended by two weeks from today. ___________________________ (C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J) 23rd July, 2009 Note: Furnish CC in three days. B/o lur