OWP Nos. 842, 843, 848, 860, 869, 870, 871 & 876 of 2017

1. The petitioners in all these writ petitions claim to have been appointed as Fair Price Dealers by the department of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Department on different dates, for different areas of different districts. The petitioners further claim that they have been serving the public of the areas for which they have been appointed for the last several years with an unblemished record and now at this age when the petitioners have either become over aged or likely to become as such, their livelihood has been put at stake by the respondents, who are contemplating to either replace the petitioners or to appoint new dealers for the areas, which are presently fed by them. They, therefore, submit that the respondents have already set the process in motion for bifurcating the dealership/Fair Price Rationees/RTs of the petitioners for extraneous and political considerations. The petitioners further submit that appointment of new dealers in the areas of the petitioners is illegal, arbitrary and has the effect of depriving the petitioners of their fundamental right to livelihood. Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 are go