IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No.27730 of 2011 BETWEEN M/s. Sri Sanjeeva Sai Flour Mill. ... PETITIONER AND The District Collector, Visakhapatnam and another. ...RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner: MR. N. SIVA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following: ORDER: Petitioner is a flour mill and also holds a license under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Commodities (License, Storage and Regulation) Control Order, 2008, a control order framed under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act. 2. The grievance of the petitioner is that on 22.09.2011 the civil supplies authorities and the vigilance authorities inspected his business premises and verified the records by comparing the book stock with the ground stock. On the ground that there are variations in certain stocks, the respondent authorities seized the available stock of Boiled and Broken rice, Idly Ravva, Bengal Gram, Red Gram and Green Gram. It is alleged that the stock position was not correctly taken into account and though there were no variations in stock balances, seizure was effected illegally. 3. As is evident from a copy of the panchanama, placed on record, the following variations were found in the stock: S.No. D e s c r i p t i o n of items Quantity as per stock register Quantity as per Ground stock Variation (+) or (-) 1. Boiled Rice & Broken Rice 345.50 71.50 (-) 274.00 2. Idly Ravva 601.69 377.50 (-) 224.19 3. Bengal Gram 18.25 12.50 (-) 5.75 4. F r i e d Bengal Gram 81.15 37.50 (-) 43.65 5. Red Gram 46.50 63.00 (+) 16.50 6. Green Gram - 5.00 (+) 5.00 It is alleged that the petitioner has not been maintaining the records properly and doing clandestine business in violation of various clauses of the Control Order, referred to above. 4. With regard to the correctness or otherwise of the allegations made against the petitioner, an enquiry by the competent authority under Section 6- A of the Essential Commodities Act is required to be conducted. As much as the only allegation being variation in the stock and taking into account the nature of the commodities seized, I deem it appropriate that it is a fit case to direct the respondents to release the entire seized stock on bank guarantee from a nationalized bank, being furnished by the petitioner, equivalent to the value of the stocks pending Section 6-A proceedings. The respondents are directed to complete the enquiry as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of four (4) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The bank guarantee is subject to final order to be passed under Section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act. Subject to the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. __________________ R. SUBHASH REDDY, J October 11, 2011 Note: Furnish C.C. of the order by 12.10.2011. (B/o) DSK