FAIR PRICE DEALERS ASSOCIATION Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the association of fair price shop dealers of Munger district in the State of Bihar. It challenges the Public Distribution System Control Amendment Order, 2011 (for short the Amendment) as ultra vires the Arts. 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India apart from being contrary to the provisions of Essential Commodities Act (for short, the Act). Through the said order, the Government of Bihar amended the Fair Price Shop Order, 2007 which, in turn, was issued under the Public Distribution System Control Order, 2001 issued by the Government of India. The Act provides for the various measures to regulate the supply and distribution of the essential commodities in the country. Power is conferred upon the Central Government to issue control orders for this purpose. Once such order was issued in 2001 in relation to the Public Distribution System. That order, in turn, enabled the Governments of the respective States to frame their schemes or to issue control orders with the same features, by furnishing details. For providing guidelines in this behalf, appendix was also added.

(2.) The Government of Bihar issued Fair Price Shop Order, 2007. That contained certain guidelines to be followed in the context of granting licenses to the fair price shop dealers. Through the impugned order, certain clauses are added. Important among them are those which prohibited the individuals from being granted fair price shop licenses. Other clauses provided for the appointment of the dependant of a deceased fair price shop dealer, in case he died after attaining 55 years of age, and removing any holidays for the fair price shops. The petitioner challenged all the three clauses referred to above as being unreasonable, arbitrary and violative of various provisions of Constitution of India. Apart from that, the control order is challenged on the ground that it was effected without the prior consent of the Central Government.

(3.) The plea of the State, was that the amendment was made only to enforce the clauses contained in the Central Government Control Order of the year 2001 as amended in the year 2004 and no independent exercise of power was undertaken. It was also pleaded that by raising similar grounds C.W.J.C. No. 15157/11 and batch was filed before this Court and they were partly allowed by setting aside the clause that disabled the individuals from being granted license and the remaining two clauses were upheld.