IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO : 17030 of 2009 Between: 1 Siriseni Siva Reddy, S/o. Nagi Reddy, R/o. Piduguralla (Village & Mandal), Guntur District. 2 K. Ravi Kumar, S/o. Late K. Venkata Swamy, R/o. Chilakaluripeta Road, Narasaraopet, Guntur District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 The Joint Collector & Addl. District Magistrate, Guntur. 2 The Tahsildar, Mandal Office, Dachepalli (Village & Mandal), Guntur District. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ or order or direction, more particulalry one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the 1st Respondent in not releasing Lorry bearing No. AP 07 Y-0119 as arbitrary and illegal Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.M.RAVINDRANATH REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO : 17030 of 2009 ORDER: 1 The vehicle in question was intercepted on 09.06.2009 by the Station House Officer, Dachepalli and during the course of verification, the Station House Officer found rice stocks in the said lorry. As the documents produced by the inmates of the said lorry are not proper, the Station House Officer Dachepalli seized the rice stocks and the lorry and reported the matter to the Tahasildar who in turn informed the same to the District Collector and accordingly proceedings under Section 6 A of the Essential Commodities Act have been initiated. Now the owners of the said vehicle bearing No.AP 07 Y – 0119 approached this court and filed the present Writ Petition seeking release of the said vehicle. 2 Having considered the submissions and also looking at the papers filed in this Writ Petition, this court is of the view that this Writ Petition can be disposed of with a direction to the Collector to complete the said enquiry under section 6 A of the Essential Commodities Act as expeditiously as possible, preferably, within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. However, as the petitioners have come forward offering third party security equivalent to the worth of the said vehicle, the Collector is hereby directed to release the said vehicle in favour of the petitioners on condition of the petitioners offering third party security to a tune of Rs.3 lakhs. 3 The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of. No order as to costs. ----------------- 18.08.2009 kvsn