FERTILIZER WHOLESALE DEALERS WELFARE ASSOCIATION Vs. GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition, the petitioners seek directions by way of Mandamus against respondents 1 and 2, not to insist the members of the 1st petitioner-Association, to submit separate Form A-1 intimations to different Notified authorities in respect of their storage points, under the provisions of the fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Control order'), and further, to declare Clause (5) of the Terms and Conditions of Form a-1 as arbitrary, unreasonable and unconstitutional.

(2.) 1st petitioner is an Association registered under the A. P. Societies registration Act, 2001, and all its members are wholesale dealers in fertilisers. 2nd petitioner is the fertilizer dealer, who is also a member of the 1st petitioner-Association.

(3.) THE Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985, is issued by the Central Government in exercise of its powers under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. It is a self-contained Control Order, which prescribes the procedure for dealing in fertilisers. It prescribes the Notifying Authorities, Inspecting authorities, procedure for getting the Certificate of Registration, restrictions on manufacture and sale of fertilisers, mechanism for analysis of samples, enforcement Authorities and it also contains the penal provisions for the violators of various provisions. Clause (8) of the Control Order provides for making an application for intimation or registration, for persons intending to sell or offer for sale or carrying on the business of selling the fertilisers. As per the provision contained under Clause 8 (2) of the Control Order, every person, including a manufacturer, an importer, a pool handling agency, wholesaler or a retail dealer, intending to sell or offer for sale or carrying on the business of selling of fertilisers shall make a Memorandum of Intimation to the Notified Authority, in Form A-1 duly filled in, in duplicate, together with the fee prescribed under Clause 36 and certificate of source in Form 'o'. Under Clause 8 (3), on receipt of such Memorandum of Intimation, complete in all respects, the Notified Authority shall issue an acknowledgement of receipt in form A-2 and it shall be deemed to be an authorization letter granted and the concerned person will be considered as an authorised dealer for the purposes of this Order. The prescribed format in Form A-1 reads as under : <FRM>JUDGEMENT_221_LAP_2009Html1.htm</FRM>