JUDGMENT

The petitioner is concerned with the toddy shop carried on by him as T.S.No.12 (Group-IV) located at Pengad in Cherukavu Grama Panchayat limits as per the Licence No.107/14-15 issued by the 1st respondent. The licence issued by the 1st respondent in favour of the petitioner is produced at Exhibit P1. Despite there being no requirement to have a D&O Licence as provided in the Panchayat Raj (Issue of Licence to Dangerous and Offensive Trades and Factories) Rules, 1996 (Kerala) [for brevity “Rules of 1996”], the Panchayat has prohibited the petitioner's operation as per Exhibit P2. The petitioner relies on two decisions of this Court, reported in Unnikrishnan A.G. v. commissioner of Excise, Thiruvananthapuram & Another [ 2014 (1) KHC 140 ] and Poulose P.P. v. Kappur Grama Panchayat, Palakkad and Others [ 2015 (2) KLT 165 ].

2. I have heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for the 1st respondent. Despite the fact that notice was served by Special Messenger on the Secretary and the Panchayat, the respondents 2 and 3, none appear.

3. The provisions of D&O Licence is available under Section 232 of the Kerala Panchat Raj Act, 1994 [for brevi