Mirajul Ali Mollah v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER

29.03.2023 Heard Shri AAR Karim, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Shri CKS Baruah, learned State Counsel, Assam for the State respondents whereas Shri MA Mondal, learned counsel has appeared for the respondent no. 7. Page No.# 3/5

¶2Considering the subject matter and as agreed to by the parties, the instant writ petition is taken up for disposal at the admission stage itself.

¶3The petitioner is a dealer of a Fair Price Shop connected with M/S Gambaribil Samabay Samity Ltd. As per the petitioner, a false FIR was lodged on 20.04.2022 leading to registration of Gossaigaon PS Case No.146/2022 under Sections 379/411/420/ 294/506/34 of the IPC read with Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act. The said FIR was lodged by the respondent no. 7 with the allegation that PDS rice was sought to be sold by the petitioner. On such FIR, the petitioner was arrested and subsequently, released on bail. The petitioner is aggrieved by an order dated

31.05.2022 whereby his license has been put to suspension.

¶4It is the case of the petitioner that thereafter, no further proceedings of issuing of any show cause notice has been taken and the petitioner remains to be under suspension till date.

¶5Shri Karim, learned counsel for the petitioner has referred to the Assam Public Distribution of Articles Order, 1982 (Order of 1982), more specifically Order 15 thereof where in sub-section (2), it has been stipulated that the suspension can be for a maximum period of 90 days. He further submits that no opportunity of any kind was afforded to the petitioner before passing of the impugned order. The learned counsel submits that going by the mandate of the aforesaid provision of law, an order of suspension will spend its force on expiry of 90 days. Shri Karim, learned counsel, however submits that as per an interim direction of this Court, no other person has been appointed in place of the petitioner.

¶6Shri Baruah, learned State Counsel submits that an affidavit-in-opposition has Page No.# 4/5 been filed by the respondent no. 3 on 30.01.2023. The learned State Counsel submits that the allegations are serious in nature and the investigation is going on and in the interest of justice, the suspension order should not be revoked. He further submits that the allegations are in direct connection with the business of Fair Price Shop.

¶7Shri Mondal, learned counsel for the complainant submits that the complaint has been filed bona fide in which the petitioner was, indeed arrested and investigation is going on.

¶8Shri SR Rabha, learned Standing Counsel submits that he would adopt the argument advanced on behalf of the State, as the offence, in question, is of serious in nature.

¶9After hearing the parties and on perusal of the records, this Court finds force in the arguments made by the learned counsel for the petitioner that Order 15 (2) of the Order of 1982 stipulates that an order of suspension can be issued for a maximum period of 90 days which, admittedly has spent its force. The learned counsel for the petitioner has also relied upon the following decisions:

i) Mornoi Gaon Panchayat Mahila Multipurpose Samabai Samity & Anr. Vs. State of Assam & Ors., 2007 (1) GLT 538,

ii) Santanu Medhi Vs. State of Assam & Ors., 2014 (3) GLT 253, and

iii) Kaushal Kumar Singh Vs. State of Assam & Ors., 2016 (4) GLT 566.

¶10After going through the aforesaid provision of law and the interpretation given by this Court on the said provision, this Court is of the unhesitant opinion that the order of suspension is not liable to be continued any further as the same has spent its Page No.# 5/5 force after expiry of 90 days. No discernible materials have been placed on record by which an exercise was done to reconsider for extension of the suspension order and the requirement of such suspension.

¶11In that view of the matter, the impugned order dated 31.05.2022 is set aside and accordingly, the petitioner would be allowed to operate his Fair Price Shop in accordance with law. The present order interfering with the suspension, however should not be construed to have any influence on the ongoing investigation or on the merits of the allegations against the petitioner. Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010173652022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/5676/2022o MIRAJULoALIoMOLLAHo S/OoLATEoSAHERoALIoMOLLAHo@oLATEoSAHORoALIoMOLLAH,oR/OoVILLo NO.o2oSOUTHoMUSALMANPARA,oP.O.-KAMALSING,oP.S.-GOSSAIGAON,o DIST-KOKRAJHAR,oBTC,oASSAM VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo TOoBEoREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY,oFOODo ANDoCIVILoSUPPLIESoANDoCONSUMERoAFFAIRSoDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI,oPIN-781006 2:THEoSUBoDIVISIONALoOFFICERo(CIVIL) oGOSSAIGAONoSUB-DIVISION oP.O.oANDoP.S.-GOSSAIGAON oDIST-KOKRAJHAR oBTC oASSAM oPIN-783360 3:THEoASSTT.oDIRECTOR oFOODoANDoCIVILoSUPPLIESoANDoCONSUMERoAFFAIRS oGOSSAIGAON oP.O.oANDoP.S.-GOSSAIGAON oDIST-KOKRAJHAR oBTC oASSAM oPIN-783360 4:THEoBODOLANDoTERRITORIALoCOUNCIL oREPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARY oFOOD Page No.# 2/5 CIVIL SUPPLIES AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT BODOLAND TERRITORIAL COUNCIL KOKRAJHAR ASSAM 5:THE SECRETARY M/S GAMBARIBIL SAMABAY SAMITY LTD. P.O. AND P.S.-GOSSAIGAON DIST-KOKRAJHAR BTC ASSAM PIN-783360 6:THE CHAIRMAN M/S GAMBARIBIL SAMABAY SAMITY LTD. P.O. AND P.S.-GOSSAIGAON DIST-KOKRAJHAR BTC ASSAM PIN-783360 7:MD. SAHA ALI PRAMANIK S/O LATE MOFIZUDDIN PRAMANIK VILL- NO. 2 SOUTH MUSALMANPARA P.O.-KAMALSING P.S.-GOSSAIGAON DIST-KOKRAJHAR BTC ASSAM PIN-78336 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A A R KARIM Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR MEDHI