IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 17676 of 2008 Between: M.A. Samad, s/o. M.A. Aziz, M/s. Bombay Taxi Auto Rickshaw Meter Works, Sainagar, Anantapur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 State of A.P. Rep by the Secretary, Civil Supplies & Legal Metrology, AP Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Controller of Legal Metrology, Government of A.P. Hyderabad. 3 The Regional Deputy Controller, Legal Metrology, Kurnool. 4 The Assistant Controller, Legal Metrology, Kurnool. .....RESPONDENTS 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 an order, direction or writ more particularly in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, a) declaring the action of the respondents in preventing the petitioner from undertaking repairs to the Auto and Taxi Fare Meters as permitted by the license even after the expiry of three months period from the date of order of suspension passed by the 2nd respondent in proceedings No. 2573/L1/2007, dt. 6-12-2007 as illegal, arbitrary, unjust and in violation of Article 14, 19 (1)(g) of constitution of India and section 20 of Standards of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985 and consequently direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to undertake repair works as per license b) declaring the proceedings of the 2nd respondent bearing No. 2573/L1/2007, dt. 6-12-2007 as illegal, arbitrary, unjust and consequently to set aside the same while declaring the action of the 1st respondent in not disposing the appeal and interlocutory application ﬁled by the petitioner on 13-6-2008 as illegal, arbitrary, unjust and consequently to direct the 1st respondent to dispose of the same; and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.V.ROOPESH KUMAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No. 17676 of 2008 O R D E R : This writ petition is ﬁled seeking a declaration that the order passed by the second respondent- Controller of Legal Metrology, dated 06-12-2007 suspending the repairing licence of the petitioner under Section 20(1) of the Standards and Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1985 is arbitrary and illegal. Though various grounds have been raised assailing the impugned order, I am not inclined to express any opinion on merits since against the impugned order, an alternative remedy of appeal is available before the ﬁst respondent and as a matter of fact, the petitioner has already preferred such an appeal. In the circumstances, without going into the merits of the case, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the ﬁrst respondent to dispose of the appeal pending on his ﬁle against the order of the second respondent dated 06-12-2007 following due process of law as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. No costs. ______________ G. ROHINI, J Date: 23-10-2008 KLP