IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.11805 of 2009 1. Ganga Sagar Pandey, son of Late Kashi Nath Pandey, resident of village Parsauni Baij, P.O. Kamrauli, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 2. Anutha Baitha, son of Late Ram Swaroop Baitha, resident of village Deokuli Dharampur, P.O. & P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 3. Ram Padarth Sah, son of Late Nagendra Sah, resident of village Harpur, P.O. Dhankau, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 4. Rajendra Sah, son of Late Nema Lal Sah, resident of village & P.O. Minapur Balha, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 5. Ram Bilas Sah, son of Late Jaleshwar Sah, resident of village & P.O. Minapur Balha, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 6. Hari Nandan Ram, son of Late Visheshwar Ram, resident of village & P.O. Dhankaul, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 7. Vinod Jha, son of Late Shashi Shekhar Jha, resident of village & P.O. Dhankaul, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 8. Sonelal Sah, son of Late Janki Sah, resident of village & P.O. Dhankaul, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. 9. Surendra Paswan, son of Puran Paswan, resident of village & P.O. Minapur Balha, P.S. Piprahi, District Sheohar. -Petitioners. VERSUS 1. The State of Bihar, through the Secretary, Department of Food & Consumer Protection, Government of Bihar, Patna. 2. The Collector-cum-District Magistrate, Sheohar. 3. The District Supply Officer, Sheohar. 4. The Sub Divisional Officer, Sheohar, District Sheohar. -Respondents. ----------- For the Petitioners : Mr. Suraj Samdarshi For the State : Mr. Satish Kr. Sinha, A.C. to AAG-4. ------------ 03 12.03.2010 The petitioners are dealers under the Public Distribution System and are governed by the Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001. For various alleged contraventions F.I.R. were lodged against them for contravening one or the other provisions of the Public Distribution System (Control) Order. That being so, by virtue of Clause-7(iii) of the said order their licences were suspended. Now, the grievance of the petitioners is that during suspension of their licences the district authorities are - 2 - taking steps to fill up the alleged vacancy caused, when there is no vacancy in respect of dealers. It is submitted that their licences have not been cancelled. The law permits suspension of licence. Suspension is not termination of dealership. The day suspension is revoked for whatever reason petitioners would be entitled to be back in business of their dealership has to be restored in full terms. Thus, if State is permitted to treat the position of the suspended dealers as vacant and fill it up with fresh appointments, rights of the petitioners would be taken away. That the law does not permit. If licence had been cancelled, the matter would have been totally different. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that if for any reason an employee is suspended, no vacancy is caused and no fresh appointments is made. The similar has to be in the present case. Learned counsel for the State apart from saying that he would seek instruction and file a comprehensive counter affidavit is unable to say anything in this pure simple legal issue. Almost six months back case has already been adjourned for filing counter affidavit and none has been filed. In my view, there is no point to keeping the matter pending. In view of the provisions of Clause-7(iii) of the Bihar Public Distribution (Control) Order, 2001, it is clear that the petitioners’ licences have been suspended only and not cancelled. - 3 - That being so, it cannot be deemed that there are vacancies which can be filled up. The State Authorities cannot take any steps to fill up the vacancies caused by suspension of licences. Any step taken in that direction would be contrary to law and unsustainable. However, if the petitioner make any application for revocation of suspension of licence, the authorities may consider the same in accordance with law and pass appropriate orders and if the suspension is revoked their licences were deemed to be restored in all respects. With these directions, the writ petition is disposed of. Trivedi (Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.)