IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.25791 of 2008 Between: M/s.Tulasi Seeds Pvt Limited, Tulasi House, # 6-4-6, Arundelpet, 4/5, Guntur-522002, rep.by its Executive Director Dr.P.Chandrasekhar ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Commissioner & Director of Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, Gunfoundry, Hyderabad 2 The Licensing Authority & Additional Director of Agriculture-I, Gunfoundry, Hyderabad .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue writ of mandamus or any other writ order or direction declaring the proceedings issued by the 2nd respondent in proceedings No.SR.Cell(1)638/2004 dated 10.11.2008 as being illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and set aside the impugned proceedings and consequently direct the respondents not to interfere with the petitioner business of cotton seeds. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.V.M.M.CHARY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR AGRICULTURE The Court made the following: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.25791 OF 2008 ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking a Mandamus declaring the proceedings No. SR Cell(1)638/2004, dated 10.11.2008, issued by the 2nd respondent- Licensing Authority & Additional Director of Agriculture- I, Hyderabad, as arbitrary and illegal, and consequently direct the respondents not to interfere with the petitioner’s business in cotton seeds. According to the petitioner-Company, it has been registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, and engaged in the business of sale, supply and distribution of cotton seeds for the last 16 years. It is the case of the petitioner-Company that in addition to the varieties of cotton seeds in respect of which it had obtained certificate of registration for supply, distribution and sale within the State of Andhra Pradesh, it intended to undertake trade in BG-II cotton seeds within the State of Andhra Pradesh and, therefore, applied to the registering authority seeking to grant approval for the same by way of amendment to the certificate of registration dated 15.02.2008. While the said application was pending consideration, a show cause notice dated 03.06.2008 issued by the 1st respondent- Commissioner & Director of Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh, was served on the petitioner, stating that it has contravened the provisions of A.P. Cotton Seeds (Regulation of Supply, Distribution, Sale and Fixation of Sale Price) Rules, 2007 (for short ‘the Rules), by handling Tulasi 45 BG-II Cotton Hybrid permitted for North Zone by GEAC without seeking entry of the same through necessary amendment in the certificate of registration, apart from certain other irregularities, and the petitioner was asked to submit explanation within 7 days as to why the certificate of registration issued in its favour should not be suspended/cancelled for the alleged contraventions. Accordingly, the petitioner submitted its explanation. While that being so, the application of the petitioner seeking amendment of certificate of registration for handling BG-II cotton seeds was considered and amended certificate of registration was issued by order dated 30.08.2008. However, subsequently, the impugned proceedings dated 10.11.2008 was issued by the 2nd respondent- Licensing Authority & Additional Director of Agriculture-I, Hyderabad, suspending the certificate of registration issued in favour of the petitioner until further orders. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition is filed. It is to be noted that challenging the impugned proceedings dated 10.11.2008, the petitioner has already filed a statutory appeal before the 1st respondent on 20.11.2008 along with a miscellaneous petition seeking interim suspension of the impugned proceedings, but the petitioner complains that neither the miscellaneous petition is disposed of nor the appeal is taken up for consideration. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the authorities have granted amendment to the certificate of registration on 30.08.2008 i.e. during the pendency of the enquiry and, having granted the same, there is no necessity for them to suspend the certificate of registration by the impugned proceedings dated 10.11.2008, pending enquiry. Though the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner deserve to be considered, since the petitioner has already filed a statutory appeal before the 1st respondent, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I deem it appropriate to direct the 1st respondent to dispose of the said appeal in accordance with law, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Till such time, the impugned proceedings dated 10.11.2008 shall stand suspended. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. _________________ JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU 25th November, 2008. Note:- Issue CC in three days. BO IBL