IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO : 15851 of 2009 Between: Kranti Road Transport Private Limited Rep by its Agent A.V. Siva Rao, S/o. Pullaiah, R/o. Barampet, Sattenapalli Road, Narasaraopet, Guntur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Joint Collector and Collector (Civil Supplies) and Additional District Magistrate, Guntur. 2 The Tahsildar, Narasaraopet 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, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in not releasing the lorry bearing No. AP 16 W 9722 is illegal, arbitrary and consequently direct the respondents to release the lorry bearing No. AP W 9722 Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.N.SUBBA RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : ORDER : This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not releasing the lorry bearing No.AP 16 W 9722 is illegal, arbitrary and to direct the respondents to release the lorry bearing No.AP 16 W 9722. 2. The brief facts are that the lorry bearing No.AP 16 W 9722 belonged to the petitioner-transport company and some private individuals approached the petitioner and requested him to allow them to transport rice from Narsaraopet to Mandapet. As the petitioner-company is a transport company, accepted the said transaction and during the course of transit, the 2nd respondent inspected the said vehicle and seized the same on the ground that the said rice is meant to be distributed under Public Distribution System. Thereafter, on the basis of a report furnished by the Tahsildar, proceedings under Section 6-A of Essential Commodities Act have been initiated. As the authorities concerned have not passed any orders and the petitioner has nothing to do with the said rice, he approached this Court seeking release of the said vehicle. 3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies. 4. Apparently, the petitioner is a transport company and it is very common for the transport company to transport any commodity from one place to the other. This Court is not going into the aspect whether the petitioner himself is transporting the rice meant to be distributed under the Public Distribution System and the said aspect is to be gone into during the course of enquiry by the competent authority. On that score it may not be proper to retain the vehicle during the pendency of the said enquiry. Hence, this Court is of the view that the said vehicle can be released on certain conditions. Accordingly, this Writ Petition is allowed at the stage of admission and the Joint Collector, Guntur, who initiated the proceedings under Section 6-A of Essential Commodities Act is hereby directed to release the said vehicle bearing No.AP 16 W 9722 to the petitioner within a period of one week from the date of receipt of a copy of the order after obtaining the bank guarantee to a tune of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh only) from the petitioner. The petitioner is hereby directed not to alienate the vehicle during the pendency of the writ petition and further he shall produce the same before the Joint Collector, as and when required. _________________________ GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA, J August 5, 2009 Note: Issue C.C. by three days. (B/O) KSH