SUBRATA SARDAR Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In spite of opportunities being given none of the respondents filed any affidavit.

(2.) The grievance of the petitioner is that the respondent authorities failed to act in accordance with law in not granting a licence in favour of the petitioner to carry on his business.

(3.) The petitioner applied for licence under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. The petitioner produced a Parcha to show that the occupied land on which the shop room is situated is not a government property. The petitioner also produced a declaration from the concerned local B.L.& L. R. 0., to establish that the said property does not belong to government. The concerned local authority while considering the said application for grant of licence observed that on an earlier occasion the local B.L.& L. R. O. certified that the aforesaid. plot of land belong to the Government of West Bengal. Accordingly, the petitioner was directed to obtain 'No Objection Certificate' from the concerned department to run his business on the said land. The authority concerned relied upon a letter issued by the local B.L.& L. R. O. In that reply the authority mentioned that the said land is not a government property. Although much emphasis was laid on the issue that the said property is a government property and unless No Objection Certificate' from the concerned D.L.& L. R. O. is produced the petitioner could not be allowed to carry on his business but the fact remains that under Rule.64 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 irrespective of the fact that whether the land belonged to the government or to a private individual all that the person interested to carry on business is require to satisfy to the concerned authority is that the premises in respect of which the licence is to be granted is adequate, equipped with proper storage accommodation for preserving the properties of the drugs to which the licence applies and the person in charge of a business is competent in the opinion of the licensing authority to supervise and control the sale, distribution and preservation of drugs.