IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION NO : 20257 of 2008 Between: M. Venkataramaiah, S/o. Yangappa, Nallacherlopalli Village, Mudigubba Mandal, Ananthapur District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Revenue Divisional Officer, Penukonda, Ananthapur District. 2 The Tahsildar, Mudigubba Mandal, Ananthapur District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Inspector-I, Mudigubba Mandal, Ananthapur District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction declaring the order of the 2nd respondent in Rc.No. 189/2008/B, dated 16/08/2008 and also the his consequential order in Rc.No. 189/2008/B, dated 16/08/2008 as illegal, arbitrary and void. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.KAMLAKAR Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following Order: THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO WRIT PETITION No.20257 of 2008 ORDER: The petitioner is fair price shop dealer of shop No.13 in Nallacherlopalli Village, Mudigubba Mandal, Ananthapur District. The Vigilance and Enforcement Oﬃcer, Ananthapur, inspected the petitioner’s premises on 16.08.2008. Rice meant for public distribution system (PDS) waiting 2.28 quintals was seized. On the same day second respondent passed orders in proceedings in Rc.No.189/2008/B, dated 16.08.2008 suspending the authorization of the petitioner on the ground that there are alleged grave irregularities, as a result of which a case was booked under Section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (the Act, for brevity). Feeling aggrieved by the order dated 16.08.2008, instant writ petition is filed. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that second respondent has no jurisdiction to suspend the authorization of fair price shop dealer. Secondly he submits that the impugned order is vague without putting the petitioner on notice as to the nature of irregularities found by the Vigilance and Enforcement Officer at the time of inspection. Per contra, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Civil Supplies relies on clause 20 of the Andhra Prades State Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2008 (control order, for brevity) and submits that when an eﬀective alternative remedy is available and the dispute is regarding question of fact as to irregularities committed by the petitioner, writ petition is not maintainable. A perusal of the impugned order would show that the Vigilance and Enforcement Oﬃcer found grave irregularities at the time of inspection and a case under Section 6-A of the Act was booked. When the report was sent, second respondent thought it ﬁt to suspend the authorization of the petitioner. On the same day another proceedings were issued keeping Smt.C.Ramakrishnamma, fair price shop dealer of Mukthapuram as in charge of Nallacherlopalli fair price shop. The petitioner now approached after lapse of one month. When there is eﬀective alternative remedy to ﬁle appeal against the impugned order and when the authority has already made arrangement by appointing in charge fair price shop dealer, in the considered opinion of this Court, all questions including question of jurisdiction of second respondent have to be raised initially before appellate authority. Learned counsel for the petitioner does not dispute that under clause 20 of control order, an appeal would lie to the Joint Collector. The Court is, therefore, not inclined to interfere. However, to enable the petitioner to approach appellate authority and obtain appropriate orders, the order challenged in the writ petition is suspended for a period of two weeks from today. In the meanwhile the petitioner may ﬁle appeal and obtain interim orders. With the above observations, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. _____________ (V.V.S.RAO, J) 17th September, 2008 Note: Issue CC today. {B/o} GHN To 1 Revenue Divisional Officer, Penukonda, Ananthapur District. 2 The Tahsildar, Mudigubba Mandal, Ananthapur District. 3 The Mandal Revenue Inspector-I, Mudigubba Mandal, Ananthapur District. 4 2CCs to GP for Civil Supplies 5 2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{SPJS}