In a relief to a ration dealer from Meerut, the Allahabad High Court has ruled that the mere filing of an FIR under the Essential Commodities Act cannot justify cancelling a fair price shop licence. The single-judge bench of Justice Prakash Padia delivered the verdict on October 13, 2025, directing authorities to restore petitioner Jal Singh’s licence that had been revoked six years ago.
Background
The case dates back to 2019, when the District Supply Officer, Meerut, cancelled Jal Singh’s fair price shop licence citing an FIR under Section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Singh’s appeal before the Joint Commissioner (Food), Meerut Division met the same fate, forcing him to move the High Court.
Arguing for the petitioner, advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi said the cancellation violated the Government Order dated August 5, 2019, which mandates a preliminary inquiry before any such action. He stressed that an FIR, by itself, is not proof of guilt. “A mere allegation cannot destroy someone’s livelihood,” he contended, referring to the Full Bench ruling in Bajrangi Tiwari v. Commissioner, Devi Patan Mandal, Gonda (2017) that laid down similar principles.
Court’s Observations
Justice Padia noted that the authorities had skipped the mandatory preliminary inquiry required by the 2019 Government Order. “A fair price shop licence cannot be cancelled solely because a criminal case has been registered,” the bench observed, recalling the precedent set in Bajrangi Tiwari.
The Court also cited its earlier decision in Amit Kumar v. State of U.P. (2024), where similar reasoning led to reinstatement of a licence. The judge remarked that even the Supreme Court had affirmed that stance by dismissing related Special Leave Petitions (Mohd. Amir v. State of U.P., 2025).
“The law is now well settled,” Justice Padia wrote, emphasizing that cancellation must follow due process and not rest merely on suspicion. The judgment also referenced a 2025 decision in M/s Sajid v. State of U.P., upheld by the apex court in Farhana v. State of U.P. (2025), to underline judicial consistency on the issue.
Decision
Concluding that the authorities had acted contrary to both statutory procedure and judicial precedent, the Court set aside the cancellation orders dated January 16, 2019, and November 25, 2019. The bench directed officials to restore Jal Singh’s fair price shop licence immediately.
With that, Justice Padia reiterated a principle that affects thousands of ration dealers across Uttar Pradesh - that registration of an FIR cannot, by itself, snatch away a person’s means of livelihood.
Case Title: Jal Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh & Others
Case Type: Writ - C No. 43233 of 2019
Judgment Reserved On: September 4, 2025
Judgment Delivered On: October 13, 2025
