In case of the death of a sitting licencee, the fair price shop licence should first be considered for the dependents of the deceased licencee, and only if they are ineligible should the shop be open for general selection, applying the provisions of reservation and the procedure prescribed under the U.P. Panchayat Raj Rules and government orders.

Ritu Raj Awasthi,J.

Notice on behalf of opposite parties no.1 to 4 has been accepted by learned Chief Standing Counsel, whereas Mr. Jai Kumar, Advocate has accepted notice on behalf of opposite party no.5.

2. For the orders proposed, there is no need to issue notice to opposite party no.6, as such, notice to opposite party no.6 is dispensed with.

3. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the records.

4. The instant writ petition has been filed seeking quashing of order dated 6.6.2016, whereby the opposite party no.3/Sub Divisional Magistrate, Mankapur, Tehsil Mankapur, District Gonda has directed the opposite party no.4/Block Development Officer, Babhanjot, Vikas Khand Babhanjot, District Gonda to get a proposal passed by the Gram Panchayat concerned for considering the name of opposite party no.6/Smt. Sukhraji wife of late Babu Ram for grant of fair price shop licence as opposite party no.6 is wife of deceased licencee and is entitled to get preference in view of Government Order dated 17.8.2002.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the gram panchayat concerned is reserved for scheduled caste category and, as such, the allotment of fair price shop licence for said gram panchayat is to be made only from the said category. The opposite party no.6 does not belong to scheduled caste and, as such, not eligible to be considered for grant of fair price shop licence in question. It is submitted that by the impugned order the opposite party no.3 has in fact decided the grant of fair price shop licence for the shop in question and there is no meaning of holding any open meeting of gram panchayat for that purpose.

6. Learned Standing Counsel, on the other hand, submits that opposite party no.6 is the widow of deceased licencee Babu Ram and in view of Government Order dated 17.8.2002 she is entitled to be considered for the grant of fair price shop licence in question being the dependent of ex-sitting licencee. It is submitted that the provision of reservation in the grant of fair price shop licence is to be applied where the fair price shop is open for general selection and in such cases where the sitting licencee has died and he was carrying a good reputation, the said liecence is to be granted to one of the dependents of deceased licencee who is either wife or unmarried daughter or son.

7. I have considered the submissions made by parties' counsel and gone through the records.

8. The Government Order dated 7.8.2002, copy of which is annexed as Annexure-3 to the writ petition provides the procedure for allotment of fair price shop licence. As per provision under para 10-(Jha) in case a sitting licencee dies, having good reputation, the grant of fair price shop licence shall be considered and granted to one of his/her dependents. The dependent means wife, son or unmarried daughter. It is not the dispute that Babu Ram was the sitting licencee of fair price shop in question and had died while his licence was fully intact. He was carrying good reputation and, as such, respondent no.6 was fully eligible to be considered for grant of fair price shop licence in question.

9. The only question for consideration is whether the fair price shop in question was to be reserved for the scheduled caste category as claimed by petitioner and whether only a scheduled caste candidate could be given the fair price shop licence ignoring the right of preference of opposite party no.6.

10. Para 4 (1) of Government Order dated 17.8.2002 provides that for the purpose of applying the reservation the development block shall be taken as a unit and on that basis the calculation of total sanctioned fair price shops shall be done and shops shall be identified and reservation shall be applied. Sub para (4) of paragraph 4 provides that in this regard the same system shall be applied as is applicable for the post of Gram Pradhan under the Gram Panchayat.

11. Subsequently, vide Government Order dated 10.8.2007 and thereafter 11.8.2015 the