1. The petitioner has filed this petition being aggrieved by order dated 11.7.2011 passed by the Dy. Director/Licensing Officer (Seed), Kisan Kalyan and Krishi Vikas Department, Betul and order dated 4.2.2012 passed by the appellate authority whereby the order of the competent authority cancelling the petitioner’s licence granted under the provisions of the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983 has been affirmed.

2. The brief facts, leading to the filing of the present petition, are that the petitioner is a registered cooperative society and involved in procurement and sale of soyabean seeds through Primary Agriculture Credit Co-operative Societies and has been granted a licence under the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983 which was valid upto 31.3.2014.

The petitioner, had supplied soyabean seeds to the farmers for the Kharif season 2011 in respect of which certain complaints were made by the agriculturist/villagers on the basis of which a team was constituted by the Collector and thereafter the impugned order dated 11.7.2011 was passed cancelling the licence of the petitioner. The petitioner being aggrieved had filed an appeal before the appellate authority which also suffered dismissal on 4.2.2012, hence this petition.

3. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the impugned order has been passed without following the procedure prescribed by Clause 15 of the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983 which statutorily requires giving of an opportunity of hearing before cancelling the licence. It is further submitted that the petitioner was initially given a notice proposing cancellation of his licence on 30.6.2011 in respect of soyabean seeds JS 9752 variety distributed by the petitioner in lot No. 154239 whereas the impugned order of cancellation dated 11.7.2011 has been passed alleging supply of bad quality soyabean seeds of the variety JS 335 and, therefore, the impugned order has been passed without application of mind and without giving any notice or opportunity of hearing in respect of soyabean seeds of the variety JS 335 supplied by the petitioner.

4. It is further submitted that the complaints received by the Collector from the villagers of village Lakkadjam was in respect of Lot Nos. 154227, 154229, 154231 and 154232 who had been supplied soyabean seeds through the society in Bheempur in respect of which after enquiry and inspection it has clearly been stated that the soyabean seeds in respect of the aforesaid lots are of the requisite certification in the report dated 18.8.2011 submitted by the Seed Examination Laboratory, Gwalior, as is evident from the letter of the Dy. Director, Kisan Kalyan and Krishi Vikas, Betul dated 8.9.2011 filed alongwith the petition on page 50.

5. It is submitted that as the soyabean seeds, in respect of which complaints had made by the agriculturists, were found to be of the requisite quality and certification, no action could have been taken against the petitioner but the authority concerned has issued the impugned order of cancellation by holding that the soyabean seeds supplied by the petitioner to the villagers of village Chillor of the JS 335 variety Lot No. 154228 was below the specified quality and certification, totally overlooking the fact that there was no complaint by any of the villagers of village Chhillor in respect of Lot No. 154228.

6. The learned counsel for the petitioner has further stated that when the petitioner pointed out the aforesaid illegality and irregularity in the proceedings taken against the petitioner before the appellate authority in his appeal, the appellate authority with a view to overcome the lacuna in the proceedings taken up by them issued a notice to the petitioner for the first time in the appeal proceedings on 9.9.2011 proposing to take action in respect of the soyabean seeds variety JS 335 Lot No. 154228 supplied by the petitioner to the villagers of village Chhillor and erroneously examined the original complainants who were agriculturists of village