Rules of Allotment Flagrantly Flouted: Kerala HC Upholds Cancellation Of License To Run Akshaya Centre
|The Kerala High Court held that there was no fault in the order of cancellation of Akshaya Centres which was done due to an illegal transaction qua the terms of grant of licence for the Centre.
The petitioner’s licence of the Centre was cancelled by the orders of the District Collector and the Director of the Akshaya Project after he entered into an arrangement with a woman and allowed her to operate the Centre for nearly three years, The woman however argued that she had paid the petitioner a fee and rent for the transfer of the licence to run the Centre.
A Single Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran observed, “Though the arrangement with respect to the room where the ‘Akshaya Centre’ is running, and the Security Deposit attached thereto, may not be illegal; the conceded payment of Rs.3,40,000/- to Sri.Ratheesh K.R. by Smt.S.Sunitha, surely can only be found to be an illegal transaction, at least qua the terms of grant of licence for ‘Akshaya Centres’; and hence, I cannot find fault with the impugned orders at all.”
Advocate Manas P Hameed represented the petitioner, while GP P.S. Appu appeared for the respondents.
The petitioner argued that the arrangement he entered into with the woman was only based on a necessity, and therefore, the impugned orders to cancel his license must be set aside.
The Court explained that the cancellation of the licence was done on account of the petitioner’s conduct in having entered into the transactions with the woman.
The Court explained that the security deposit accepted by the petitioner with respect to the room where the Centre was running was not illegal, but the transfer fee was an illegal transaction as per the terms of the grant of licence of the Centre.
The Court held that “nothing contained in this judgment will affect the right of Smt.S.Sunitha to apply for and participate in any new tendering process to be notified by the Government; for which purpose, all her contentions in that regard are left open.”
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the petitions.
Cause Title: Ratheesh K.R. v. The Director, Akshaya Project & Ors. (2024-KER-8856)
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocate Manas P Hameed
Respondents: Government Pleader P.S. Appu and Advocates Manu Ramachandran, M. Kiranlal, R. Rajesh (Varkala), T.S. Sarath, Sameer M Nair, and Sailakshmi Menon