IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.15182 of 2009 Manoj Rai, son of Ramsagar Rai, village Chhatauni, Block and P.S. Piprahi, District Shivhar – Petitioner. Vs. 1) The State of Bihar through the Principal Secretary cum Commissioner, Department of Food and Civil Supplies. 2) District Level Selection Committee, Shivhar through its Chairman. 3) The District Magistrate, Shivhar. 4) The Subdivisional Officer, Shivhar. 5) The Block Supply Officer, Piprahi, district Shivhar – Respondents. 5 4.11.2011 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the State. The petitioner is aggrieved by Annexure 7, dated 8.8.2009 passed by the District Selection Committee by which they have cancelled the P.D.S. license of the petitioner on the ground that the allegation against him was serious. The background of the case is that some members of a particular community (Ansari) filed a complaint before the Subdivisional Officer alleging that the petitioner was not distributing the food items and Kerosene oil in accordance with law. An enquiry was held by the Block Supply Officer. The report is at Annexure 4 to the writ petition which discloses that there was a dispute between the two groups in the village which has led to the filing of the complaint against the petitioner and the enquiry, therefore, concludes that the allegations are false and fabricated. The second enquiry report dated 20.2.2009 is contained in Annexure 6 which has been passed by the Circle Officer cum Block Supply Officer, Piprahi. It reveals that the petitioner is performing his duty as P.D.S. dealer in accordance with law and that the allegations are false. 2 In view of the aforesaid enquiry report the Block Supply Officer has recommended to the District Selection Committee that the suspension order should be revoked. When the matter went before the District Selection Committee, they have disposed it of without examining the enquiry report and the recommendation of the Block Supply Officer by merely stating that the allegations are serious and, thus, upheld the suspension of the petitioner’s license and they have recommended cancellation, which was subsequently issued vide Annexure 8. In a case of this nature where there is an allegation against a person who is responsible for distributing food grains in the village, there is a procedure prescribed by which the allegations are tested. Once the procedure is followed by conducting enquiries to test the allegations and there is a finding that the allegations are false and fabricated and have been initiated for mala fide reasons, inasmuch as it has been done due to the village politics between two communities living in the village, there is no occasion for the District Selection Committee to hold that merely because there is an allegation which appears serious in nature, the cancellation of the license should be issued. The entire purpose of holding an enquiry and looking into the allegations is for the purpose of testing the correctness of the allegations. As such, this court finds that the order of the District Selection Committee is not justified. I, therefore, remand the matter to the District Selection Committee to consider the enquiry reports and after considering 3 the reports as well as the recommendation of the Block Supply Officer, pass an appropriate order within a period of three months on receipt of a copy of this order. This writ petition is disposed of with the aforesaid observations and directions. haque ( Sheema Ali Khan, J .)