Madhava Reddy, J.-These three Criminal Revision Gases and the two writ petitions which are by the licensees under the Andhra Pradesh Foodgrains Dealers Licensing Order, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Order’) came up before 11s on a reference by our learned brother P.C. Reddy, J. Confiscation of food-grains belonging to the licensees was ordered under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Foodgrains Dealers Licensing Order inter alia on the ground that they carried on business in foodgrains for dealing in which they were not specifically granted licence. In Crl. R.C. No. 510 of 1974 our learned brother, Muktadar, J., by his judgment dated 8th Novembr, 1974 had held that a dealer is entitled to deal only in the foodgrains specified in the licence issued to him and that purchase, sale or storage for sale of foodgrains not speci6cally mentioned in the licence would amount to a contravention of the provisons of Clause 3 of the Order. In referring these cases to a Bench our learndg brother, P.G. Reddy, J., while not expressing any dissent with that view, observed that there is no specific provision in the Order itself wnich enjoins that a separate licence should be taken for each one of the food-grains specified in Schedule I of the Order. “Having regard to the importance of the question involved in the case” he referred these cases to be decided by a Division Bench of this Court.

2. In all these Criminal Revision Cases, the premises of the licensees were inspected and they were found to be dealing in foodgrains other than those for which a licence was granted under the Order. Therefore, the entire stock of foodgrains held by them was seized and confiscated under Clause 11 (1) (b) and (d) of the Order read with section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act hereinafter referred to as the “Act”.

3. In order to appreciate the several contentions raised which are common to all these Criminal Revision Cases and the Writ Petitions, it is enough at this juncture to notice the facts in Crl. R.C. No. 753 of 1973 and the circumstances which led to the filing of Writ Petitions.

4. The petitioner in Crl. R.C. No. 753 of 1973, who holds a wholesale licence No. 768 and a retail licene No 769 under the Order was carrying on business as a dealer in Foodgrains at Jaggayyapet in Krishna District. In his licence, “Paddy’ and ‘Jowar” were not entered. Year after year, he has been submitting fortnightly returns to the authorities showing the stocks of different foodgrains including paddy and jowar held by him and duly applying for renewal of the licence. However, the licence was not returned to the petitioner after renewal; it was retained by the Licensing Authorities.

5. On 31st March, 1975 the Deputy Tahsildar, Jaggayyapet, visited his godowns and sealed them. Subsequently on 12th April, 1975 the Special Tahsildar (L and Acquisition) Bandar issued an order seizing 451.25 quintals of paddy, 796 quintals of Jowar and 199.92 quintals of broken rice alleging (1) that paddy was not included in the licence issued to the petitioner and his dealing in paddy constitutes a contravention of condition No. 1 of the licence, (2) that accounts were not properly maintained and stocks were found not tallying with the entries which amounts to a contravention of condition No. 3 of the licence and (3) that stocks were found ,stored in an unlicensed premises constituting a contravention of condition No. 2 fa) and (6) of the licence. These being contraventions liable to be dealt with under Clause 3. of the Order and section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act a show cause notice dated 4th May, 1973 was issued to the petitioner by the District Revenue Officer under section 6-A of the Essential Commodities Act. In response to the show cause notice issued to him he submitted an explanation inter alia pleading that he had applied for the grant of licence under the Foodgrains Dealers Licensing Order for dealing in all foodgrains and the petition was not rejected that no separat

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