SHITAL CINEMA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the declaration that the petitioner has not been served with any show-cause notice or in the alternative no grounds are disclosed as to on what grounds, the petitioner's application for license is not renewed or no grounds are disclosed as to why the petitioner's license should not be renewed / recalled or suspended and, therefore, the respondents are required to be restrained from passing an illegal order and the order which may be produced, if served upon the petitioner, and on the basis of this proposed order, the petitioner's license and the order be declared to be illegal and void. By way of interim relief, the petitioner has prayed for the permission to run the theater till the orders of the respondent are examined by this Court and status-quo in the form of allowing the petitioner to run the theater irrespective of any order be continued.

(2.) This Court has issued notice on 30.03.2010. subsequent to the notice, affidavit-in-reply is filed on behalf of the respondent. The petitioner has also filed an application for production of additional documents of Criminal Case No.152 of 2009.

(3.) It is the case of the petitioner that Shital Cinema is existing for the last 38 years and license is also regularly renewed and there was not a single complaint filed against the Cinema. The petitioner has made an application for renewal of the license which expired on 31.03.2008. During the pendency of the said renewal application, certain orders were passed by the District Magistrate which were challenged before this Court. The learned Single Judge of this Court dismissed the writ petition. However, in the appeal filed before the Division Bench of this Court, the petitioner was permitted to run the Theater on filing an undertaking that the petitioner shall not exhibit any indecent film in the Theater. The basis on which the Division Bench has passed the earlier orders was that the orders were passed against the petitioner without issuance of any show-cause notice or without affording an opportunity of being heard. That lacuna was subsequently removed and the show-cause notice was issued on 16.11.2009 to which reply was given by the petitioner and the petitioner was also heard and thereafter, final order dated 13.03.2010 was passed cancelling the license of the petitioner.