WP(C) 5273/2009 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MRS JUSTICE ANIMA HAZARIKA Heard Mr. AK Goswami, learned Senior counsel assisted by Mr. B Buragohain, learn ed counsel appearing for the petitioners. Also heard Mr. RK Bora, learned Addl. Senior Govt. Advocate, Assam appearing for the respondents. Considering the grievance raised and the prayer made in this petition and also a s agreed to by the learned counsel appearing for the parties, this writ petition is disposed of at the motion stage itself. The petitioners herein are the Family Identity Card (’FIC’ in short) holders wit hin the jurisdiction of Tinsukia Municipal area in the district of Tinsukia. The Deputy Commissioner, Tinsukia vide his order dated 5.8.2008 initiated verificat ion of FIC attached to different Fair Price Shops situated under the Tinsukia Mu nicipal Area through Officers from the Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Tinsukia. The said verification has already been concluded with elimination of m ore than 3830 FIC of Above Poverty Line (APL), 50 FIC of Below Poverty Line (BPL ) and 30 FIC of Antadaya Anna Yojana (AAY). The petitioners’ FIC were endorsed b y the Verifying Officers as Certified and Found Correct in all respect. Howeve r, within a period of one year, the Deputy Commissioner, Tinsukia has once again issued the impugned notification dated 25.11.2009 and its consequential order d ated 25.11.2009 for verification of the FIC holders attached to the different Fa ir Price Shops situated in the Tinsukia Municipal Area and the subsequent notifi cation has caused harassment to the petitioners, inasmuch as, petitioners were n ot aware before issuing of the notification dated 25.11.2009 about such verifica tion once again taken up by the authority. The grievance of the petitioners is t hat the respondent authorities have not issued any public notice or any official correspondence to the FIC holders against whom the verification in the form of enquiry is to be conducted pursuant to the aforesaid notification and therefore, it is impossible on the part of the FIC holders/petitioners to appear before th e Verifying Officers to prove their genuineness or have their say before verific ation/enquiry and for that action of the authority, petitioners are being denied their reasonable opportunity of being heard. Hence, the petitioners have approa ched this Court praying for setting aside and quashing the impugned notification dated 25.11.2009 and the consequential order dated 25.11.2009. When the writ petition came up for motion hearing yesterday (30.11.2009), Mr. Bo ra, learned Addl. Sr. Govt. Advocate was directed to obtain instruction in regar d to the aforesaid grievances made by the petitioners. Accordingly, Mr. Bora has received instruction from the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Tinsukia, who is in charge of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs of the Tinsukia distr ict and has submitted that FIC verification is carried out through out the State of Assam as per WT Message issued by the Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of Assam , Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department dated 7.7.2009 and the sa me was notified for general public in two daily vernacular newspapers, namely, ’ Pratidin’ and ’Dainik Asom’ in its issue dated 28.11.2009 and 30.11.2009 respect ively as well as ’mike’ announcement in the municipal area and also announceme nt in the television (local channel). Heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties. On perusal of the materials on record and the instruction received by Mr. Bora, it is clear that petitioners’ apprehension is genuine, inasmuch as, from 30.11.2 009 FIC verification was to be carried out as per notification dated 25.11.2009 whereas the instruction so received by Mr. Bora shows that there was paper publi cation only on 28.11.2009 and 30.11.2009 meaning thereby that on 30.11.2009, tho ugh there was paper publication, petitioners had little time to collect the test imonials/copies of voters list etc. as indicated in the notification dated 25.11 .2009 as on and from 30.11.2009 itself verification of the FIC was to be carried out. Therefore, the public/petitioners whose verification of the FIC were to be carried out on 30.11.2009 had little time to gather the testimonials to be show n before the Officers, appointed for that purpose. In view of the above position, I propose to dispose of this petition with the fo llowing order- the petitioners, if they feel aggrieved by any order passed by th e authority on the verification of FICs, are at liberty to submit application/re presentation etc. before the authority concerned and on submission of such repre sentation, the authority shall pass order on the representation/application so s ubmitted after hearing the aggrieved persons concerned giving due notice to him/ them. Without hearing the persons concerned, no order shall be passed canceling the FIC. With the above observation and direction, this writ petition stands disposed of.