IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 8437 of 2008 Between: V. santhamma W/o V. Venkateswarlu Velichelamala, Nambulapula Kunta Mandal, Anantapur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Penugonda, Ananthapur district. 2 The Tahasildar, Nambulapula Kunta Mandal, Anantapur District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.V.SUNIL BABU FOR MR.V.NITESH Counsel for the Respondents: AGP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed for a writ of mandamus to declare notification, dated 01.04.2008 issued by respondent No.1 calling for applications from Scheduled Caste category candidates for filling up fair price shop vacancy of Velichelamala Village on permanent basis as illegal and arbitrary. Heard Sri V.Sunil Babu, learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies and perused the record. The petitioner belongs to B.C. ‘B’ category. Consequent on the death of fair price shop dealer of Velichelamala Village, Nambulapula Kunta Mandal, Anantapur District, the petitioner was appointed as a temporary dealer in the year 2003. The petitioner questioned notification, dated 01.04.2008 issued by respondent No.1 whereby he sought to fill up the vacancy on permanent basis by reserving the same for the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that till the issuance of the impugned notification, the fair price shop was reserved for B.C. community and the action of respondent No.1 in reserving the said shop for the persons belonging to Scheduled Caste category is illegal. After taking instructions, the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies submitted that in Penukonda Revenue Division, the total number of fair price shops in existence is 888, the number of shops reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates in terms of G.O.Ms.No.53, dated 06.10.2003 is 131 and the candidates belonging to the said category appointed so far as fair price shop dealers are 62. He, therefore, submitted that there are 69 shops remaining to be filled up with the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste category in order to implement the reservation policy envisaged in the above mentioned G.O. The learned Assistant Government Pleader placed before me a copy of letter, dated 17.04.2008 addressed by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Penukonda to the Government Pleader for Civil Supplies, wherein the above-mentioned details have been referred to. Having regard to the above-mentioned facts, which reveal that the fair price shop in question is reserved for Scheduled Caste category candidates with a view to implement the policy of reservation, the petitioner cannot legitimately complain the action of respondent No.1 in reserving the shop in question for Scheduled Caste candidates. For the above mentioned reasons, the writ petition fails and is accordingly dismissed. As a sequel to disposal of main petition, WPMP.No.11157 of 2008 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 21st APRIL, 2008 kvni