In Brief
This case concerns a dispute over a fair price shop licence between two private individuals at a village panchayat in Uttar Pradesh. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate cancelled the respondent's licence; the Commissioner upheld the cancellation in unreasoned orders; the High Court set aside these orders but without deciding the substantive merits. The Supreme Court held that while the High Court was right to identify the Commissioner's orders as unreasoned, it should have either decided the case on merits itself or remanded for a proper hearing. The Court remanded the matter to the Commissioner to decide the appeal afresh on merits after hearing both parties and the State department, with directions to pass reasoned orders within three months."
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