C M JOSEPH Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR COIMBATORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WE do not find any illegality or jurisdictional error in the order passed by the State Commission. Hence the Revision Petition is dismissed.

(2.) AS the State Commission has pointed out, "The complaint relates to licence granted by the Government to the complainant for running I.M.F.L. shops and the security deposit made therefor, the license fee paid and compensation for cancelling the licence". The State Commission has observed that "The right to sell IMFL is auctioned by the Government in public, licence fee and security deposits are collected from the successful bidder who has to pay the auction amount in instalments. In auctioning the right to sell I.M.F.L. and in collecting licence fee and security deposits for running I.M.F.L. shops, the Government are not doing any service to the bidders or even to the successful bidders. The Opposite Parties are performing their statutory functions under the Excise Act in pursuance of the policy of the Government. By no stretch of imagination can the Government be said to be doing any service and the complainant cannot claim to have hired the services of the Opposite Parties in issuing of licence for running the I.M.F.L. shop or receiving security deposit. He is not, therefore, a consumer within the meaning of the Act".