Mohammad Ali v. The State of Assam and 6 Ors

ORDER Date : 21.08.2024

Heard Mr. D. A. Kayuim, learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. U. Das, learned counsel for the respondent Nos. 1 to 5. Also heard Mr. A. F. N. U. Mollah, learned counsel for the respondent No. 7. No one appears for the respondent No. 6, though the Lawazima Court's order dated 23.07.2024 states that service in respect of the respondent No. 6 has been completed.

¶2The petitioner's grievance in this writ petition is with regard to deletion of his name as the PDS licence holder in respect of licence No. 1630/2017.

¶3The petitioner's case is that on the death of his father, the PDS licence which had been in the name of his father was transferred in the name of the petitioner, vide order dated 15.07.2017, having validity till 31.03.2018. The Page No.# 3/5 petitioner's application for extension of the validity period was stuck with the authorities due to Covid-19 Pandemic. The petitioner thereafter came to learn that the PDS Licence No.PDA-1630/2017 had been given to the respondent no.7, on the alleged ground that the petitioner had expired. The petitioner's counsel submits that the PDS licence should be restored in the name of the petitioner and the transfer of the same to the respondent no.7 should be cancelled.

¶4Counsel for the respondent No. 7 submits that the name of the respondent No. 7 is Hurmuz Ali, son of late Khudu Sheikh, resident of village Chenger Alga and that the respondent No. 7 is an agent/dealer of a fair price shop, vide licence No. PDS 677/1990 under M/s Kolsabhanga Rowkhowa Gaon Panchayat Samabai Samiti Ltd. He submits that the mistake in deleting the name of the petitioner, as a fair price shop dealer, occurred due to the petitioner's father having the same name as the respondent No. 7, having licence No.PDA 1630/1990 under the same Gaon Panchayat. He submits that the licence of the respondent No. 7 is in fact older than the one issued to the petitioner's father, though both were issued in the year 1990. Unfortunately, when the father of the petitioner died and the petitioner had made an application for transferring the father's licence to his name, the State respondents had mistakenly presumed that the respondent No. 7 had died and transferred the respondent No. 7's licence to the petitioner, without making any comment with regard to the licence number of the respondent No. 7, which was different than the licence number of the petitioner's father. He submits that due to the confusion in the names of the petitioner's father and the respondent No. 7, a mistake was committed by the State respondents. The respondent No. 7 filed WP(C) 6254/2021, which was closed on 20.06.2023, on becoming infructuous, as the licence of the Page No.# 4/5 respondent No. 7 had been restored back to the respondent No. 7.

¶5Ms. U. Das, learned counsel for the respondent No. 3 submits that the mistake committed in deleting the PDS licence of the petitioner, due to the confusion in the respondent No. 7 and the petitioner's father having the same name, has now been clarified and necessary correction would be made, so that the licence No. 1630/2017 is restored to the petitioner.

¶6I have heard the learned counsels for the parties.

¶7As can be seen from the averments made in the pleadings and the submissions made by the counsels for the parties, the deletion of the licence, which was in the petitioner's name, had occurred due to the name of the petitioner's deceased father and the respondent No. 7 being the same.

¶8Para 7 of the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the respondent No. 3 is reproduced below:- "7. That with regards to the statements made in paragraph no. 11 and 13 of the writ petition the deponent states that due to incorrect reporting, the Petitioner name has been deleted from the Stake Holders Identity Management System (SIMS) showing the Petitioner death. The Deputy Director submitted a report in this regards vide Memo no. GSG.2/2017/70 Dated-17/06/19 to the Director, FCS & CA, Assam for making change in SIMS database.

And in connection with W.P. (C) No. 6254/2021 (Hurmuj Ali v/s State of Assam) in the Hon'ble Gauhati High Court and in pursuant to the letter vide no. GSG.2/2017/70 dated-17/06/2019, the Director, FCS & CA, Assam has informed the matter to the Deputy Commissioner, Goalpara as below:-

"However, after migration to RCMS, now in RCMS database the name of Hurmuj Ali bearing license no. 677/90 is missing and whereas, the name Page No.# 5/5 of Mohammad Ali with license PDS/1630/2017 exists in RCMS portal. no.

Therefore, to replace the name of Mohammad Ali with Hurmuj Ali, having license no. 677/90, a necessary action may be initiated now at District level under 'FPS modification tab', so a necessary approval at 'Director Login' in RCMS may be accorded".

Thereafter, the name of the petitioner namely Mohammad Ali, Son of Lt. Hurmuj Ali was replaced with Hurmuj Ali, son of Lt. Khudu Sheikh under Kolsabhanga Rowkhowa GPSS Ltd."

¶9In view of the fact that the mistake committed by the State respondents has now come to light and as the State respondents have undertaken to restore the PDS licence No. 1630/2017 of the petitioner, the State respondents are directed to do the same within a period of three weeks, from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order, without affecting the respondent No. 7.

¶10The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010046742024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1302/2024o MOHAMMADoALIo S/OoLATEoHURMUZoALI,oVILLAGE-oROWKHOWAoSALMARA,oP.OoCHUNARIo RIVER,oDISTRICT-oGOALPARA,oASSAM. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo6oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVToOFoASSAM,oFOOD,o CIVILoSUPPLIESoANDoCONSUMERoAFFAIRS,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-o781006 2:THEoDIRECTOR oFOOD oCIVILoSUPPLIESoANDoCONSUMERoAFFAIRS oASSAMoBHANGAGHAR oGUWAHATIo-781005. 3:THEoDISTRICToCOMMISSIONER oGOALPARA oP.O.oANDoDISTRICT-oGOALPARA oASSAMoPINo-o783121 4:THEoDUPUTYoDIRECTOR oFOOD oCIVILoSUPPLIESoANDoCONSUMERoAFFAIRS oGOALPARA oP.OoANDoDISTRICT-oGOALPARA oASSAM.oPINo-o783121. 5:THEoINSPECTORo oFOOD oCIVILoSUPPLIESoANDoCONSUMERoAFFAIRS oGOALPARA oP.O.oANDoDISTRICT-oGOALPARA oASSAM.oPINo-o783121 Page No.# 2/5 6:THE SECRETARY KOLSABHANGA ROWKHOWA GPSS LTD. P.O. CHUNARI DISTRICT- GOALPARA ASSAM. PIN - 783129 7:HURMUZ ALI S/O LATE KHUDU SHEIKH VILLAGE- CHENGER ALGA CHAR P.O. CHUNARI DISTRICT- GOALPARA ASSAM. PIN - 78312 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. D A KAIYUM, MR. S H RAHMAN,MR. M S MONDAL Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, K ZAMAN (R-7),MR. A F N U MOLLAH(R-7) BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MICHAEL ZOTHANKHUMA