THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO Writ Petition No.8533 of 2010 Dated : 20.04.2010 Between : Smt.D.B.M.Padmaja … Petitioner a n d The Commissioner Civil Supplies & others … Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO Writ Petition No.8533 of 2010 ORDER: The petitioner is a dealer of Indian Oil Corporation for retail sale of M.S. & H.S.D. She is the proprietrix of M/s.Dheekollu Filling Station, Repalle. She obtained Form ‘B’ licence under clause 4 of The Andhra Pradesh Petroleum Products (Licensing and Regulation of Supplies) Order, 1980 (Control Order). The said licence expired on 31.12.2008. She, therefore, applied for renewal on 05.11.2009. The competent authority namely Joint Collector-second respondent herein; after considering the application passed orders on 08.12.2009 canceling the Form ‘B’ licence of the petitioner for non-renewal as per the Control Order and also ordered to forfeit the security deposit. The petitioner then filed an appeal under clause 31 (1) (a) of the Control Order. The first respondent rejected the same on 11.02.2010. Assailing the same, the present writ petition is filed. The counsel for the petitioner and Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies made their submissions. The main contention of the petitioner is that the impugned order of the first respondent is not according to the Control Order and that the reasons are unsustainable. Clause 5 of the Control Order reads as under. 5. Period of Licence and fees chargeable:- (1) Every licence granted under this order shall be valid for a period ending the 31st December of the year in which it is granted and may be renewed for a period of one year or for a period of three years at a time, if an application for the renewal of a licence for a period of one year or three years, as the case may be, is made before the expiry of the period of its validity. (2) The holder of a licence may obtain from the licensing authority a duplicate of the licence issued to him if the original is lost, destroyed or defaced. The fees specified below shall be chargeable in respect of each item viz. 1. Licence fees: Omitted in this order 2. Renewal fees (per year): Omitted in this order 3. Fees for issue of Duplicate licence: Omitted in this order (3) The licence may be renewed if the application for renewal is received within one month after the expiry of the period of its validity subject to payment of the following late fee:- (a) Liquefied Petroleum Gas … 200- 00 (b) Auto Liquefied Petroleum Gas … 200-00 (c) Petrol and Diesel (or) any one commodity … 500-00 (d) Kerosene (i) Wholesale … 200-00 (ii) Sub-wholesale … 100-00 (iii) Retail … 50-00 Provided that if the licensee does not apply for renewal within one month after expiry of the licence, with late fee, his licence shall cease to be in operation and the security deposit shall be forfeited to Government. The plain reading requires compliance of two conditionalities to seek renewal of Form ‘B’ licence. A licensee must make an application before expiry of the period of its validity and must pay renewal fee as per clause 5 (2). Clause 5 (3) is an exception to the general rule. If a licensee is not able to make an application for renewal before the expiry of period of validity subject to paying late fee (stipulated under clause 5(3)), the application can be considered provided it is received within one month after the expiry of the period of validity. Indisputably, the petitioner sent her application on 05.11.2009 after expiry of 10 months 4 days. Therefore, the licensing authority and the Appellate Authority correctly applied law in rejecting the application of the petitioner for renewal. When once licence is not renewed, as per proviso to clause 5 (3) the licence shall cease to be in operation and security deposit shall be forfeited to the Government. The impugned order for the above reasons is unexceptionable. The writ petition is, therefore, misconceived and the same is accordingly dismissed. __________ V.V.S.RAO, J April 20, 2010 sur