HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.24299 of 2006 ORDER: The relief sought for in this Writ Petition is to declare the action of the respondents in applying Clause 4 of the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966 and Section 3D of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to the entire sugar produced by the petitioner company as arbitrary and illegal. A consequential declaration is sought to declare that the petitioner company to sell its free sale sugar stocks manufactured during the sugar season 2006-07. The interim relief sought for was to direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to sell its free sale sugar stock manufactured during the sugar year 2006-07 to discharge its contractual and statutory liability. This Court, by order dated 22.11.2006, granted interim directions as prayed for, subject to the condition that the petitioner- company clears the dues payable to the farmers for the sugar-cane crop of the previous year and for the present crop as well as any other statutory dues. Sri Vedula Venkata Ramana, Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, would submit that in the light of the interim order passed by this Court on 22.11.2006, the cause in the Writ Petition does not survive necessitating adjudication by this Court. Learned Senior Counsel would, however, apprehend that, in case this Writ Petition was to be dismissed as not pressed, the authorities may resort to the penal provisions of the statute on the ground that the earlier order has attained finality. I see no reason to examine even this question, as no penal action is said to have been initiated as on date. It is, however, made clear that in case the respondents’ resort to any penal action, it is always open to the petitioner to seek appropriate remedies in appropriate legal proceedings. Subject to the above observations, the Writ Petition is dismissed as not pressed. _____________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN,J 17.02.2011 MRKR