IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 12106 of 2009 Between: K. Sarala Devi, W/o. K.K. Rama Rao, (under Suspension) Shop No. 28, R/o. Tirupathi Town, Chittoor District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Joint Collector, Chittoor, Chittoor District. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Chittoor District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.M.VENKATA RAMANA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following: ORDER: This Writ Petition is filed for a writ of Mandamus to set aside Order dated 18-10-2008 of respondent No.2 by holding that the same is contrary to G.O.Ms.No.53, dated 06-10-2003. Heard Sri M.Venkataramana Reddy, learned Counsel for the petitioner, and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies. The petitioner is the holder of authorization to run Fair Price Shop No.28 of Tirupathi Town. The Assistant Supply Officer, Tirupathi Urban, inspected the said shop on 05-10- 2008 and found that one Sri A.Ramanatha Reddy, son of Vemala Reddy, was running the said shop as benami. The Assistant Supply Officer, Tirupathi, also enquired from the Deputy Tahsildar, Civil Supplies, who reported to him that the latter’s enquiry with the card holders revealed that they were receiving the essential commodities from Sri A.Ramanatha Reddy for two years and that they have never seen the petitioner running the shop. The Assistant Supply Officer sent a report to respondent No.2, who, by the impugned order, suspended the petitioner’s authorization on the ground that she contravened G.O.Ms.No.53, dated 06-10-2003, by allowing another person to run the shop. Sri M.Vekata Ramana Reddy, learned Counsel for the petitioner, submitted that though the order of suspension of the petitioner’s authorization was made on 18-10-2008, so far enquiry has not been conducted and completed and that no order of suspension can be passed for an indefinite period. The learned Counsel relied upon judgments of this Court reported in Y.Chennappa vs. Joint Collector and Addl.District Magistrate, Anantapur and others[1] and Joint Collector, Kurnool and others vs. A.Neelima[2] and submitted that the suspension, which is continued beyond 90 days, is deemed to have ceased to be in force and the petitioner’s authorization would, automatically, stand restored. I have carefully gone through the above two judgments and I find that they do not support the contention of the learned Counsel for the petitioner. Admittedly, there is no stipulation in the extant Control Order or the executive instructions issued by the Government, limiting the period of suspension to 90 days. In the absence of any such limit prescribed under the statutory provisions or executive instructions, the contention of the learned Counsel for the petitioner cannot be accepted. Indeed if such a contention is accepted, it may some times lead to anomalous situation where unscrupulous dealers will getaway by getting their authorizations restored merely on account of the fact that the enquiry was not completed within 90 days. The Public Distribution System being mainly meant for the poorer strata of the Society, such an interpretation of the Control Orders issued under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, seriously affects public interest. In this view of the matter, the contention of the learned Counsel for the petitioner is rejected. However, since enquiry is pending for nearly 8 months, it is appropriate to direct respondent No.2 to complete the enquiry, if not already done, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. As a sequel to disposal of the Writ Petition, WPMP.No.15623 of 2009 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. ___________________________ (C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J) 22nd June, 2009 Note: Furnish CC in one week. B/o LUR [1] 2007 (6) ALT 257 [2] 1996 (1) APLJ 285