Page No.# 1/4 GAHC010121102022 2026:GAU-AS:5835 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/4180/2022 NAZRUL HAQUE S/O- BURJAT ALI, VILLAGE- 2 NO GARUGAON, P.O- 2 NO. GARUGAON, P.S- MANIKPUR, DIST- BONGAIGAON, ASSAM, PIN-783380 VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 4 ORS REP. BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVT. OF ASSAM, FOOD CIVIL SUPPLIES AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT, DISPUR, GHY-06 2:THE DIRECTOR FOOD CIVIL SUPPLIES AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS ASSAM BHANGAGARH GHY-05 3:THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BONGAIGAON P.O AND DIST- BONGAIGAON ASSAM PIN-783380 4:THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOOD CIVIL SUPPLIES AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS P.O AND DIST- BONGAIGAON ASSAM PIN-783380 Page No.# 2/4 5:THE AREA OFFICER CUM INSPECTOR FOOD CIVIL SUPPLIES AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS P.O AND DIST- BONGAIGAON ASSAM PIN-78338 For the Petitioner(s) : Mr. G. Uddin, Advocate For the Respondent(s) : Ms. U. Das, Addl. Sr. GA, Assam BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVASHIS BARUAH ORDER Date : 27.04.2026 Heard Mr. G. Uddin, the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner and Ms. U. Das, the learned Additional Senior Government Advocate appearing on behalf of all the Respondents. 2. The Petitioner herein is aggrieved by the actions on the part of the Respondent Authorities in tagging his PDS license with another dealer. 3. The case of the Petitioner herein is that the Petitioner was issued a license under the Assam Public Distribution of Articles Order, 1982 (for short ‘the order of 1982’) for lifting and distributing PDS articles to the card holder under Village No.2 Page No.# 3/4 Garugaon and about 130 card holders were under his retailership. 4. It is the specific case of the Petitioner that the Petitioner’s license was renewed up to 31.03.2021 but without assigning any reasons, the beneficiaries of the Petitioner were tagged along with another Fair Price Shop. Being aggrieved, the Petitioner submitted a representation on 21.02.2020. However, the Respondents did not consider the same for which the Petitioner has approached this Court. 5. The records reveal that this Court vide an order dated 24.06.2022 issued notice. Thereupon, the Respondents have filed an affidavit-in-opposition on 24.08.2022 wherein it is categorically mentioned that the name of the PDS license of the Petitioner is not found at the SIMS portal database of the department which is mandatory as per the implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 through online since December, 2015 by the Central Government. 6. It is further mentioned that the Petitioner had not lifted and distributed any PDS article to the 130 card holders of Village No.2 Garugaon inasmuch as there is no any beneficiary tagged with the Petitioner at the SIMS database. No affidavit-in-reply thereagainst has been filed in spite of passage of almost 4 Page No.# 4/4 (four) years. 7. This Court further takes note of that in the year 2021, a decision was taken by the State of Assam to close down all Fair Price Shop having less than 50 ration cards tagged with those Fair Price Shops and tagged these beneficiaries with the other Fair Price Shops wherein the beneficiaries are 50 or above ration card holders. The policy decision of the State of Assam in this regard has not been interfered with by this Court upon a challenge being made. 8. Considering the above, as there is no ration card tagged with the Fair Price Shop of the Petitioner, the question of issuance of any writ in the instant proceedings does not arise for which the writ petition stands dismissed. JUDGE Comparing Assistant