SREERAG Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this intra-court appeal, the appellant assails the judgment dtd. 25/2/2026 rendered by the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C) No.31134 of 2025, by which the Court declined to interfere with the cancellation of the licence to operate an Akshaya Centre and the rejection of the application seeking transfer of the said licence.

(2.) The appellant was a duly licensed Akshaya Centre Entrepreneur (ACE) and had been operating an Akshaya Centre at Karakkonam, Thiruvananthapuram, pursuant to Ext.P1 agreement dtd. 13/2/2014. The agreement was renewed periodically, the last of such renewals being the agreement dtd. 15/6/2022 (Annexure A1). The writ petition was instituted challenging Ext.P9 order, by which the third respondent cancelled the appellant's licence and further rejected the application for its transfer to a third party. The brief facts leading to the issuance of Ext.P9 are as follows. The appellant was found absent during a surprise inspection conducted by the District Office of the Akshaya Project, and consequently, the fourth respondent/District Collector temporarily suspended his licence as per Ext.P2 order. In Ext.P2, the fourth respondent observed that, upon receipt of a complaint against the appellant, an opportunity of hearing had been afforded, but the appellant failed to appear. It was further noted that, during the surprise inspection, the appellant was found to be working at a mobile service centre without attending to the Akshaya Centre. The appellant challenged the suspension order before this Court by filing W.P.(C) No.19864/2024.

(3.) Pursuant to the directions of this Court in the said writ petition, the fourth respondent conducted a personal hearing of the appellant and issued Ext.P4 order, granting him a final opportunity to operate the Centre subject to certain conditions, namely: that he should be present in the Centre during its working hours; that he should not engage in any other employment that would adversely affect the functioning or goodwill of the Centre; and that, apart from the appellant, the prior licensee should not be involved in the operations of the Centre. Thereafter, as part of the State-wide lightning inspection conducted by the Vigilance Department under the title "Operation E-Seva", a further surprise inspection was carried out at the Centre, during which also the appellant was found absent. A follow-up inspection conducted by the Block Co-ordinator on 8/7/2024 revealed that the appellant was absent on that day as well and was continuing his work at the mobile servicing centre. Consequently, the District Collector recommended cancellation of the appellant's entrepreneurship, and, accordingly, the third respondent issued Ext.P9 cancelling the same. Prior to that, the appellant had submitted Ext.P8 application seeking transfer of the Akshaya Centre licence in favour of Smt.Panchami R.J., one of the staff members of the Centre. By Ext.P9 order, the said request was also rejected.