HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.36628 of 2014 DATED : 23.12.2014 Between:
G. Harish Kumar Reddy, S/o.G.V.Narayana Reddy, Aged about 24 yrs, R/o.6-905, Azad Nagar, Anantapur, Ananthapur District.
.. Petitioner AND Union of India, rep., by its Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sastri Bhavan, New Delhi & 2 others .. Respondents The Court made the following:
HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.36628 of 2014 ORDER:
On 15.09.2013 an open advertisement was issued calling for application for enlistment of LPG dealership in various locations in the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh. One of the locations notified was Anantapur Town of Anantapur District. The petitioner is one of the applicants for the said location. On preliminary verification of the eligibility of the petitioner, he along with others were subjected to selection by draw of lots held on 13.09.2014 and in the said draw of lots the petitioner was identified as eligible for allocation of the dealership. After the selection of petitioner has eligible candidate for awarding of dealership, Field Verification Credentials (FVC) of the petitioner were undertaken by the respondent-Corporation. In the field verification the respondent-Corporation found that the site offered by the petitioner is not fully owned by the father of the petitioner and the dimensions are not suitable as per the common eligibility criteria mentioned in the advertisement. It was also found that as against the maintenance of minimum bank balance of Rs.10 lakhs, the balance maintained in the account of the petitioner as on the date of submission of application was Rs.49,907.46 only. Based on the field verification of credential report, vide letter dated 17.10.2014, the petitioner was informed of his ineligibility for awarding of dealership contract. Thereafter, the respondent- Corporation conducted 2nd round of draw of lots on 29.11.2014 and another person is identified as eligible to award the dealership.
2. As per the directions of this Court, learned Standing Counsel produced the record of the Field Verification Report. Column No.9 deals with the particulars of the property offered by the petitioner. On verification of the relevant documents, it was found that the original documents were placed with the bank and the same were not produced. On verification of the ownership with the Encumbrance Certificate and the certified copies obtained through Mee-seva, it was noticed that the land mentioned in Survey No.102/2 is not fully owned by the father of the petitioner and the dimensions are not suitable as prescribed in the common eligibility criteria.
3. With reference to the land for location of showroom, though original location furnished by the petitioner was found to be not within the limits of advertised location, since the petitioner has offered alternate location, no objection was raised against Column No.10.
4. With reference to minimum bank balance, on verification of relevant records, it was found that the petitioner gave a declaration on fixed deposit in Account No.232 for an amount of Rs.10 lakhs in Lingala Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Society Limited. As per the information available from the Reserve Bank of India website, this bank is not one of the scheduled banks. According to the advertisement, the bank balance should be maintained only in a scheduled bank. This clause incorporated in the advertisement and the brochure on guidelines for selection of dealers is not under challenge. Furthermore, even in the account of credit society the minimum balance as on the date of submission of application was well below the balance required i.e., Rs.10 Lakhs.
5. The selection for enlistment of dealers are regulated as envisaged in the brochure on guidelines for selection of regular LPG distributors of August, 2013. As on the last date of submission of application, the candidate must maintain minimum bank balance as required for the location. Clause vi of the Guidelines for selection reads as under:
“Have minimum total amount of Rs.15 lakhs for Urban Markets and Rs.10 lakhs for Urban-rural & Rural Markets respectively as the closing balance on the last date for submission of application as specified in the advertisement or corrigendum (if any). This amount is to be arrived at by adding amount in Savings Bank accounts in Scheduled Bank/Post Office, free and un-encumbered Fixed Deposits in Scheduled Bank, Post Office, Listed Companies/Government Organisation/Public Sector Undertaking of State and Central Government, Kisan Vikas Patra, NSC, Bonds, Shares of Listed Companies, Listed Mutual Funds, ULIP, PPF, Surrender Value of Life Insurance Policies in the name of Applicant or family members of the ‘Family Unit’ of the Applicant as defined above. In case of locations reserved under ‘SC/ST’ category, minimum total amount of Rs.5 lakhs for Urban Markets and Rs.2.5 Lakhs for Urban-Rural & Rural Markets respectively should be available as the closing balance on the last date for submission of application as specified in the advertisement or corrigendum (if any).
6. According to the field verification report, as on the last date of submission of application, in the account in the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Society, the minimum bank balance was not maintained, in addition to the fact that it is not a scheduled bank. Similarly as per Clause vii of the brochure on guidelines for selection of dealers, the applicant must either own the land as per the specifications mentioned therein, or he can also obtain lease for a minimum period of 15 years. In the instant case, the site offered by the petitioner for establishment of godown is not fulfilling the minimum parameters prescribed by the selection process.
7. Having regard to these two major infirmities, the candidature of the petitioner was rejected. These two infirmities pointed out in the field verification report is in accordance with the Clauses in the advertisement calling for applications and the brochure on guidelines for selection of LPG dealers. I therefore, see no error in the report of the field verification and consequent decision taken by the respondent-Corporation, rejecting the candidature of the petitioner for enlistment as LPG dealer in Anantapur District.
8. In view of the above observations, the writ petition fails and accordingly dismissed.
9. Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this writ petition shall stand dismissed.
P.NAVEEN RAO, J 23rd December, 2014 Rds