Mr. P.K. Mullick, Mrs. Soma Mullick and Mr. S.K. Deuria, Advocates v. UOI

Judgment

1. By way of present writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner seeks to assail the letter/order dated

09.02.2005 (hereinafter, ‘impugned order’) passed by the respondent whereby petitioner No.1 was indefinitely blacklisted/debarred from induction in Nutrient Based Subsidy Policy for Single Super Phosphate (SSP) Fertilizer (hereinafter, ‘Concession/Subsidy Scheme’). Additionally, the petitioners seek payment of all dues in respect of the Concession Scheme.

2. The facts, in a nutshell, are that the petitioner No.1, being a manufacturer of SSP Fertilizer, participated in respondent’s Fertilizer Subsidy Retention Price Scheme since 1981. Petitioner No.1 was alleged to Signature Not Verified Signed By:GAUTAM ASWAL Signing Date:29.05.2025 04:54:51 W.P.(C) 3499/2010 Page 1 of 7 have inflated production figures on the basis of forged documents to fraudulently claim excess subsidy from the Government of India. In this regard, the CBI registered a case against petitioner No.1 in 1996, and two chargesheets have been filed against the petitioner No.1, one for offences under Sections 120-B/420/467/468/471 IPC in the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Indore and other for offence under Section 7 of Essential Commodities Act in the Court of Session Judge, Indore on

20.10.1999. Pertinently, decisions in these cases are still pending. As a consequence of the criminal proceedings, petitioner No.1 was removed from the concession scheme.

3. In the impugned order, it was stated that pending the final outcome of the aforesaid case, respondent would not be in a position to decide as to the payment of subsidy to and re-induction of petitioner No.1 in the Concession Scheme.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that petitioner No.1 cannot be debarred/blacklisted indefinitely, till the conclusion of the aforesaid cases. Reliance is placed on Daffodils Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Vs. State of UP1, Kulja Industries Ltd. Vs. Western Telecom Project BSNL2, Vetindia Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Vs. State of UP3 and Dhiraj Gupta Vs. South Delhi Municipal Corporation4 to submit that the maximum period for which a company can be debarred is 5 years. It is further submitted that the chargesheets the aforesaid cases were filed by the CBI after approximately 10 years of the alleged commission of the offence and even