Telangana High Court
Chintu Mudiraj vs The State Of Telangana on 19 February, 2025
Author: K. Lakshman
Bench: K. Lakshman
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K. LAKSHMAN
WRIT PETITION No.4914 OF 2025
ORAL ORDER:
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. G. Madhusudhan Reddy, learned Standing Counsel for GHMC appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.2, 4 and 5 and Mr. Katika Ravinder Reddy, learned Standing Counsel for HYDRAA appearing on behalf of respondent No.3.
2. The petitioner herein is the resident of house bearing No.8-4- 549/38/1/A, Natraj Nagar, Erragadda, Hyderabad. In his locality, respondent No.7 is running LPG establishment and Godown. It is also storing filled cylinders. Abutting the said godown, there is a Government Primary School, Urdu and English Medium. Establishment and running of the said godown including keeping of filled cylinders near the school is in violation of the procedure laid down under law. Therefore, he has submitted a representation dated 08.01.2025 to respondent No.2 with a request to take action against respondent No.7. Despite receiving and acknowledging the said representation, respondent Nos.2 and 4 did not act upon the same. Aggrieved by the said inaction of respondent Nos.2 and 4, the petitioner filed the present writ petition. 2
KL,J W.P. No.4914 of 2025
3. It is relevant to note that to establish a godown for storing of filled/empty cylinders, respondent No.7 has to obtain several licenses including Form 'D' from the District Civil Supplies Authority, NOC from the District Collector and NOCs from Police, Fire and Municipal Departments concerned as well as Form 'B'. According to the petitioner, respondent No.7 has established the said godown and continuing the same in violation of the procedure laid down under the Andhra Pradesh Petroleum Products (Licensing and Regulation of Supplies) Order,1980 and the Gas Cylinders Rules, 2016 (for short 'Rules, 2016'). The Joint Chief Controller of Explosives of Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) concerned and the District Collector are the competent authorities to consider the said aspects. Admittedly, the petitioner has not submitted any representation to them and he has not made them as parties to the writ petition.
4. Rule - 49 of the Rules, 2016 deals with 'application for license or approval, while Rule - 54 deals with 'prior approval necessary for alteration in the licensed premises' and the same are extracted as under:
"49. Application for license or approval.- (1) A person intending to obtain or renew a license or approval under 3 KL,J W.P. No.4914 of 2025 these rules shall submit an application, in writing, to the Chief Controller or Controller,-
(a) in Form 'B' along with following document for a license prescribed in sub-rule (1) of rule 51; and
(b) in Form 'C' along with following document for a license prescribed in sub-rule (2) of rule 51. (2) The following documents shall be submitted in duplicate to the licensing authority for grant of approval for manufacture of cylinder, valve and LPG regulator namely:-
(i) fee as per Schedule V;
(ii) application in Schedule III for the manufacture of cylinders, valves and LPG regulators along with all the relevant documents;
(iii) the ISO accreditation or equivalent certificate issued by any nationally or internationally recognized agency within a period of one year from the date of approval;
(iv) list of relevant code, specification and technical literature available;
(v) ownership proof for legal and physical possession of the land, where such facilities are proposed to be set up;
(vi) detailed report on manufacturer, inspection and testing proposed to be followed;
(vii) design drawing scheme of manufacture and testing of cylinder, valve and, regulator proposed to be manufactured duly vetted by Bureau of Indian Standard or any other recognized third party inspection agency; and
(viii) organizational set up of the applicant with specific reference to qualifications and experience of the personnel engaged in the manufacture of cylinder, valve and LPG regulator;4
KL,J W.P. No.4914 of 2025
3. The following documents shall be submitted in duplicate to the licensing authority for grant of approval for cylinder testing station and hot repair of LPG or welded cylinders, namely:-
(i) fee as per Schedule V;
(ii) ownership proof for legal and physical possession of the land, where such facilities are proposed to be set up;
(iii) applicant's name and full address with telephone numbers and E-mail address;
(iv) proposed location of cylinder testing station or hot repairing facilities;
(v) six copies of each site and layout plan showing the area for degassing in case of flammable gas cylinder testing station and details of neutralization facilities in case of toxic gas cylinder testing and location of various testing equipments in the cylinder testing shop;
(vi) specification or code proposed to be adopted for the testing and examination of cylinder or hot repair of LPG or welded cylinder;
(vii) organizational set up of the applicant with specific reference to qualification and experience of the personnel engaged in the testing of cylinder or hot repair of cylinder.
(viii) quality control check or test carried out at each stage of testing and examination of cylinders or hot repair of LPG or welded cylinder;
(ix) details of template or gauge provided to check or test;
(x) steps taken to check the accuracy of testing and checking equipment and frequency of such checking;
(xi) equipment available for carrying out non-destructive examination such as Gama ray or X-ray equipment, viewer, etc., for radiographic examination, 5 KL,J W.P. No.4914 of 2025 ultrasonic flaw detector, equipments for dye penetration and magnetic particle tests, etc;
(xii) proforma of the record and certificate for various test carried out by the cylinder testing station or hot repairing shop;
(xiii) the ISO accreditation certificate issued by any nationally or internationally recognized agency within a period of one year from the date of approval; and
(xiv) list of relevant code, specification and technical literature available."
"54. Amendment and transfer of license or approval.- (1) Any license or approval granted under these rules may be amended or transferred by the Chief Controller or Controller authorized by the Chief Controller.
(2) The fee for amendment of a license shall be as per Schedule V plus the amount, if any, by which the fee that would have been payable if the license had originally been issued in the amended form, exceeds the fee originally paid for the license. (3) A licensee who desires to have his license amended shall submit to the Chief Controller or Controller-
(i) an application duly filled in and signed in Form 'B' if the license has been granted in Form 'D' and in Form 'C' if the license has been granted in Form 'E', 'F' or 'G';
(ii) the license sought to be amended together with the approved plans attached to it;
(iii) where any alterations in the licensed premises have been carried out, three copies of the properly drawn plans showing the alterations sanctioned under rule 53 by the Chief Controller or Controller;
(iv) fee for the amendment of the license as specified in sub-rule(2) of Rule 65.6
KL,J W.P. No.4914 of 2025 (4) The holder of a license in form 'E', 'F' or 'G' may, at any time before the expiry of the license, apply to the licensing authority to transfer the license to another person and every application for such transfer of a license shall be accompanied with -
(i) a letter signed by the holder of the license indicating the full name and postal address of the person to whom he intends to transfer the license and give complete possession of the licensed premises;
(ii) the license sought to be transferred together with the approved plan or plans attached to it;
(iii) an application in Form 'C' duly filled and signed by the person to whom the license is sought to be transferred; and
(iv) fee as per schedule V in the manner prescribed in rule 65."
5. Learned counsel for the petitioner has also placed reliance on the principle laid down by a Division Bench of High Court of Madras in Aakash Anugraha Residents Association, Mr. Kishore Victor v. Joint Chief Controller of Explosives, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (formerly Department of Explosives)1.
6. In the light of the aforesaid discussion, this writ petition is disposed of granting liberty to the petitioner to submit representations to the Joint Chief Controller of Explosives of Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) concerned and the District 1 . 2007 LawSuit (Mad) 1748 7 KL,J W.P. No.4914 of 2025 Collector and other Authorities concerned, within one (01) week from today along with supporting documents, and on submissions of the same, the said Authorities shall consider the same and take action against respondent No.7 strictly in accordance with the procedure laid down under law by putting the petitioner and respondent No.7 on notice and affording them an opportunity of hearing. However, they shall complete the entire exercise within a period of four (04) weeks from the date of receipt of the said representation from the petitioner. In the circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs.
As a sequel thereto, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this writ petition shall stand closed.
_________________ K. LAKSHMAN, J 19th February, 2025 Note: Furnish C.C. of order by 20.02.2025.
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