IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.2608 of 2011 Date of Decision : February 11, 2011. Surinder Kumar .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Pawan Kumar, Senior Advocate with Mr.Saqib Ali Khan, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms.Monica Chhibbar Sharma, DAG, Punjab, for respondent Nos.1 to 6. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) Notice of motion to respondent Nos.1 to 6 only at this stage. Ms.Monica Chhibbar Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab accepts notice on their behalf. Let six copies of the writ petition be handed over to her during the course of day. In view of the nature of order which I propose to pass neither there is any need to issue notice to respondent Nos.7 & 8 nor any counter reply from respondent Nos.1 to 6 is required at this stage. C.W.P.No .2608 of 2011 2 The dispute pertains to the allotment of a Fair Price Shop/ Ration Depot in village Kotli Muglan, Block Pathankot, District Gurdaspur. The petitioner's case is that as per the notice dated 2.3.2010 (Annexure P-1) circulated by the District Food and Supplies Controller, Gurdaspur, the eligible candidates were to submit the applications through the Gram Panchayat of the village by 8.3.2010. It is averred that the petitioner was the only applicant from the village who had applied through the Gram Panchayat and his application was duly forwarded by the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat, however, after the short listing, the batch number has been allotted to respondent No.8 who had never applied nor his application was forwarded through the Gram Panchayat. The Ration Depot/Fair Price Shop is yet to be allotted but the petitioner apprehends that respondent No.8 is likely to be allotted the same. Having heard learned counsel for the parties, I am of the considered view that the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner is essentially a question of fact which needs to be verified and determined by the competent authority. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of with a direction to the District Food and Supply Controller, Gurdaspur to ascertain as to whether or not respondent No.8/other applicants have applied on or before the cut off date as per the prescribed procedure. It is only after determining the eligibility that the Fair Price Shop/Ration Depot shall be allotted. The petitioner shall be at liberty to appear before the District Food and Supplies Controller and apprise him about the factual C.W.P.No .2608 of 2011 3 position. No allotment of the Fair Price Shop/Ration Depot shall be made until the afore-stated facts are verified. Let a copy of this order be handed over dasti to Ms.Monica Chhibbar Sharma, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab, for information and necessary compliance. Dasti. February 11, 2011 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE