ORDER :

G.R. Swaminathan, J.

1. Nagercoil Municipal Corporation constructed a number of shops within the premises of Vadaseri Christopher Bus Stand. Licenses to occupy them were brought for public tender cum auction sale on 16.10.2019. The petitioner herein was the successful bidder for Shop No. 12 A (Phase I). Accepting his offer to pay a sum of Rs. 1,15,000/- towards monthly fee, the corporation issued license in his favour vide proceedings dated 31.10.2019. The license was for a period of three years commencing from 01.11.2019. The petitioner paid a sum of Rs. 13,80,000/- towards refundable deposit and also a sum of Rs. 10.00 lakhs towards security deposit. In other words, the Corporation had collected one year license fee from the petitioner in advance.

2. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the National Disaster Management Authority exercising its powers under Section 6(2) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 issued order dated 24.03.2020 directing all the authorities to take effective measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic in the country. Pursuant thereto, the State Government of Tamil Nadu issued G.O. (Ms) No. 152, Health and Family Welfare (P1) Department, dated 23.03.