Court No. - 29
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 19329 of 2019 Petitioner :- Sonu Respondent :- Union Of India And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Kshitij Shailendra,Akanksha Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Anand Tiwari
Hon'ble Pankaj Mithal,J. Hon'ble Prakash Padia,J.
Heard Sri Kshitij Shailendra, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Anand Tiwari, learned counsel appearing for Corporation and Ms. Annapurna Singh Chandel, learned counsel for respondent No.1.
The selection of the petitioner for retail outlet dealership between 162 to 164 kilometer milestone on State Highway No. 51, District Amroha, pursuant to the advertisement dated 25.11.2018 has been cancelled by the impugned letter/order dated 22.05.2019.
The cancellation appears to be for the reason that the petitioner is not eligible probably as the grant of dealership relates to District Amroha whereas the land provided by the petitioner is of District Bijnor and the lease deed is subsequent to the advertisement.
The submission of learned counsel for the petitioner is that the location between 162 to 164 kilometer milestone on State Highway No. 51 is partly within District Amroha and partly within District Bijnor.
Be as it may, the matter involves consideration of factual aspects regarding the location of the land.
The petitioner, against the aforesaid decision taken by the Corporation has a remedy before the authorities as per the provisions contained under Clause 18 of the brochure issued by the Oil Companies namely "Brochure for Selection of Dealers for Regular and Rural Outlets" published on 24th November, 2018.
The relevant portion of Clause 18 of the brochure is reproduced below:-
"Any complaint should be accompanied by a fee of Rs. 5000/-, only in the form of demand draft of schedule bank, in favour of the Oil Company. Any complaint received without this fee will not be entertained. The complaint received against the selection including eligibility will be disposed off as under:-
(i) Complaints received before or after draw of lots/bidding process along with requisite fee of Rs. 5000/-, will be kept in record and investigation carried out after 30 days of Draw of Lots/bidding process only in following cases:-
* General complaints with verifiable facts
* Complaints against selected candidate
(ii) Any complaint received after 30 days from the date of draw of lots/bidding process will not be entertained.
(iii) Representation from applicants against rejection of his/her candidature will be verified and disposed of immediately by the Divisional/Regional Head/Territory Manager before proceeding to next stage. For such cases, fee of Rs.5000/- will not be applicable."
From perusal of Clause 18 of the brochure, it appears that the complaint should be accompanied by the requisite fee of Rs.5000/-. It is further contended that any complaint received after thirty days from the date of draw of lots/biding process will not be entertained. It is further contended that the representation from applicants against the rejection of his/her candidature will be verified and disposed of immediately by the Divisional/Regional Head/Territory Manager before proceeding to next stage. For such cases, fee of Rs.5000/- will not be applicable.
In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we dispose off the writ petition with liberty to the petitioner to invoke clause 18 of the brochure and make representation/appeal within a period of two weeks from today. In the event, any such representation/appeal is filed before the appropriate authority, the same shall be considered in accordance with law most expeditiously, if possible, within a period of six weeks from the date of its submission.
The petition stands disposed off. Order Date :- 30.5.2019 Nirmal