HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No.8532 of 2008 Date : 26.08.2011 Between : K. Dhana Lakshmi. …..Petitioner And The Commissioner, Civil Supplies and E.O. Secretary to Government, Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies Department & others. …..Respondents HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No.8532 of 2008 ORDER : The petitioner is a fair price shop dealer in Thakkellapadu village of Dachepalli Mandal in Guntur District. This writ petition is filed, aggrieved by the proceedings of the Collector and District Magistrate, dated 23rd of October 2007, issued in Proceedings ROC.No.8341/2007-SI. By the aforesaid proceedings, the Collector and District Magistrate has approved the proposals of the Revenue Divisional Officer, Narsaraopet, for bifurcation of existing fair price shop situated at Thakkellapadu village by creating a new shop on the ground that with the existing single shop, card holders are facing difficulties in getting and lifting the commodities. There is only one shop earlier in Thakkellapadu village, for which, 688 cards were attached. On the ground that the card holders are facing difficulties as much as all the cards are attached to only one shop, proposals were sent by the Revenue Divisional Officer for bifurcation. Based on the said proposals, the Collector and District Magistrate has ordered for bifurcation of the existing shop into two shops by allotting 344 cards to each shop. This is questioned only on the ground that such bifurcation is in contravention of the orders issued by the Government in G.O.Ms.No. 35, dated 17.09.2007, Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies (CS-1) Department. By the aforesaid orders, the Government has issued guidelines for rationalization of fair price shops in the Districts due to increase of iris based cards. The relevant norm for the purpose of disposal of the writ petition is under clause 6(v) of the G.O., which reads as under : “Rural areas – Each Gram Panchayat (v) should halve at lealst one F.P. shop with a minimum of 400 BPL cards and 50 APL cards. In case, there are more number of cards in excess of the minimum number of cards i.e. 400 BPL and 50 APL in a village there can be two FP Shops, provided the total number of BPL cards in that village is not less than 600 and the number of BPL and APL cards should be attached to the two Fair Price Shops equally”. In view of the above said clause, it is stated that to maintain the economic viability of dealers, at least there should be a minimum number of 400 BPL cards and 50 APL cards. It is submitted that in view of bifurcation, the petitioner’s shop is attached with only 344 cards, which is in violation of the orders of the Government. Although the guidelines referred above for rationalization of fair price shops indicate that there should be a minimum 400 BPL cards and 50 APL cards, but the very paragraph clearly states that if there are more number of cards in excess of minimum number of cards i.e. 400 BPL and 50 APL in a village, there can be two fair price shops. In this case, it is to be noticed that 688 cards were attached to the petitioner’s shop before bifurcation. As per the said guideline issued by the Government, another shop can be established. If 400 BPL cards and 50 APL cards are to be retained with the petitioner’s shop, remaining cards will be on minimal side to the newly created shop, in that view of the matter, to maintain economic viability, two shops are equally attached with 344 cards each. As much as there were 688 cards before bifurcation, another shop is created as per the guidelines notified by the Government, and to maintain the economic viability of dealers, each shop is attached with 344 cards, and in that view of the matter, I do not find any force in the contention of the learned counsel for petitioner that the bifurcation orders are passed in violation of the orders of Government in the G.O. referred above. For the aforesaid reasons, the writ petition is devoid of merit and it is accordingly dismissed. No costs. ______________________ R. SUBHASH REDDY, J 26th August 2011 ajr