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Writ Petition No. 925 of 1967, decided on 27th September 1967.

‑‑ S. 10, proviso read with S. 2(3)‑Cancellation of licence‑Appeal against cancellation of licence‑Can be entertained and decided only by District Magistrate‑Order passed in appeal by authority other than "District Magistrate" as defined in S. 2(3)‑Held, without jurisdiction and quashed.

Ch. Khurshid Ahmed for Petitioner.

Abdus Samad Hashmi for Respondents.

Date of hearing : 27th September 1967.

‑The petitioner is a licensee under the West Pakistan Foodgrains (Licensing Control) Order, 1957 (hereinafter described as the Order) which was cancelled by the Rationing Controller on the 17th May, 1967 on the ground that the petitioner had committed certain irregularities which were detected on the complaint of one Muhammad Hussain, ration depot holder and confirmed on inspection by the Rationing Controller. The peti tioner went in appeal, which was dismissed by Raja Saleem Akhtar, District Magistrate, Lahore by his order dated 7th June 1967. One ground on which the appellate judgment of Raja Saleem Akhtar has been attacked before us is that he was not competently seized of the appeal which could be decided by the District Magistrate alone under the proviso to clause 10, which Mr. Saleem Akhtar was not, although he was invested with the powers of the District Magistrate under the Criminal Procedure Code. "District Magistrate" is defined in the Order in clause 3 of the section 2 as follows:‑

"District Magistrate means the District Magistrate of a District."

It is obvious that under this definition it is the District Magistrate of the District alone, as contemplated by the proviso to clause 10 to whom an appeal will lie against the cancellation of a license by the licensing authority and not to any other officer who may also be invested with the powers of a District Magistrate under the Criminal Procedure Code. It has been brought to our notice by the learned counsel appearing for the respondent that Raja Saleem Akhtar had sent this case to the District Magistrate pointing out that he did not have the jurisdiction to deal with the appeal, but the appeal was nonetheless sent back to Raja Saleem Akhtar for disposal. In our view, Raja Saleem Akhtar not being the District Magistrate, as contemplated by the Order, he was not competent to decide the petitioner's appeal. His order is, therefore; without jurisdiction and lacks legal sanctity. We are constrained to quash the same with the result that the appeal of the respondent shall be deemed to be pending in the Court of the District Magistrate, Lahore which shall be disposed of according to law. Needless to say that the petitioner can raise all the grounds that may be open to him against the cancellation order before the District Magistrate. We hope that the appeal is decided as soon as possible without any avoidable delay.

Order accordingly

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