IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION NO : 16931 of 2009 Between: Vangari Srinivas S/o. Srishailam R/o. Siricilla Proper & Mandal, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Joint Collector (CS) Karimnagar District Karimnagar. 2 The Revenue Divisional Officer Siricilla Division Siricilla, Karimnagar District 3 The Tahsildar Siricilla Mandal Siricilla, Karimnagar 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 is;sue an order or direction declaring the action of the respondent No.2 in seizing the stock of 1) BPT Variety Rice 21.45 quintals worth of Rs.1,19,250-00, 2) Hamsa Variety rice 78.15 quintals worth of Rs. 1,30,000-00 and 3) Broken Rice 51.00 quintals worth of Rs.45,000/- total value of the same is Rs. 2,94,000-00 from the shop of the petitioner through panchanama dated 6-8-2009 even though the petitioner is having valid Food grains license and not contravened any of the clauses of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Commodities Dealers (Licensing, Storage and Regulation) order, 2008 and not passing any orders by the respondent No.1 upon a pe;tition filed by the petitione dated 10-8-2009 praying to release and not sell the seized in favour of the petitione as arbitrary, illegal, null and void and violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the constitution of India. Consequently direct the respondents to release the seized stock of 1) BPT Variety Rice 78.15 quintals worth of Rs.1,19,250-00, 2) Hamsa Variety rice 78.15 quintals worth of Rs. 1,30,000-00 and 3) Broken Rice 51.00 quintals worth of Rs.45,000/- total value of the same is Rs. 2,94,000-00 in favour of the petitioner and not to sell the same till the disposal of the 6-A proceedings under Essential Commodities Act. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.K.VENU MADHAV Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA WRIT PETITION No.16931 of 2009 ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking a Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the 2nd respondent in seizing the stocks i.e., 21.45 quintals of BPT variety rice worth Rs.1,19,250/-; 78.15 quintals of Hamsa variety rice worth Rs.1,30,000/-; 51.00 quintals of broken rice worth Rs.45,000/-, totaling to Rs.2,94,000/- from the shop of the petitioner, through panchanama dated 06.08.2009, even though the petitioner is having valid food grains license and not contravened any of the clauses of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Commodities Dealers (Licensing, Storage and Regulation) Order, 2008 and also not passing any order by the 1st respondent on a petition filed by the petitioner dated 10.08.2009 seeking to release of the seized stocks in favour of the petitioner, as illegal and arbitrary and consequently sought for a direction to the respondents to release the aforesaid stocks in favour of the petitioner and not to sell the same till the disposal of the 6-A proceedings under the Essential Commodities Act. The petitioner is having valid licence bearing No.13 of 2009 issued under the A.P. Scheduled Commodities Dealers (Licensing, Storage and Regulation) Order, 2008 to carry on business in rice, which is valid up to 31.03.2010. On 06.08.2009, the 2nd respondent along with his staff visited the business premises of the petitioner and seized the aforesaid stocks under cover of panchanama on the ground that the petitioner was not maintaining the records. Pursuant thereto, on the basis of the report furnished by the 2nd respondent, the 1st respondent initiated proceedings under Section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act. The petitioner approached the 1st respondent and filed an application on 10.08.2009 requesting him to release the seized stocks and also not to sell the same till the disposal of the 6-A proceedings. Since no orders have been passed, the petitioner filed the present writ petition. Heard both sides. Now that the proceedings under Section 6A of the Essential Commodities Act are very much pending before the 1st respondent, this Court is of the view that this writ petition can be disposed of without going into the merits of the case. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of with a direction to the 1st respondent-Joint Collector to complete the proceedings pending before him under Section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act 1955 and pass necessary orders thereon, within a period of eight weeks from today. Pending consideration of the said proceedings, the seized stock shall not be sold. No order as to costs. _____________________________ (GOPALA KRISHNA TAMADA, J) 17-08-2009 Gsn.