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Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. v. Meena Kumari and Ors.

Disposed of
Court
Supreme Court of India
Decided
1 May 2008
Bench
S. B. Sinha, Markandey Katjuauthor
Result
Appeal dismissed.

Headnote

Constitution of India, 1950; Article 226:

Writ Petition-Writ of Mandamus/or direction to appellant-Corporation to grant her licence for Petrol Pump in preference to other applicant on ground of residential requirement-Held: High Court was right in directing the Corporation to grant the licence to respondent no. l in preference to other applicant on the ground of residential requirement in terms of guidelines on the subject.

The writ petitioner is a resident of village Jheenjhak, district Kanpur Dehat and is a war widow. On the other hand, respondent No. :! in this appeal who is also a war widow of an ex army personnel is a resident of district Farrukhabad, Respondent No. 1 filed the impugned writ petition in the High Court praying for a writ of mandamus directing the appellant-Indian Oil Corporation Limited, to grant her a licence for retail outleUpetrol pump in pursuance of the Notification dated 30.12.1977 which was allowed by the High Court. Hence, the present appeal.

Dismissing the appeal, the Court HELD: 1.1. One of the terms mentioned in the policy guidelines for selection of dealers/distributors was that preference would be given to the candidate belonging to the district in which the proposed dealership/ distributorship is advertised. [Para 5) (1059-EJ

1.2. In the Fact and circumstances of the case, the High Court was right in directing that respondent No. 1 should have been given preference and granted the licence for the petrol pump since she is a resident of kanpur Dehat for which locality the dealership was being granted, she had preference. [Pa.ra 6) [1059-F)

Headnote as published in the Digital Supreme Court Reports by the Supreme Court of India. Paragraph references point to the judgment below.

Judgment

MARKANDEY KAT JU, J. I. This appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment and order dated 14.9 .2000 of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 40236 of 1999.

¶2Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 3. Respondent No. I, Smt. Meena Kumari, filed the impugned writ petition in the High Court praying for a writ of mandamus directing the appellant, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, to grant her a licence for retail outlet/petrol pump in village Jheenjhak, district Kanpur Dehat, in pursuance of the Notification dated 30.12.1977.

¶4The writ petitioner is a resident of village Jheenjhak, district Kanpur Dehat and is a war widow whose husband was an army personnel who died during the 1971 war. On the other hand, respondent No. 2 in this appeal, Smt. Asha Devi, who is also a war widow of an ex army personnel, is a resident of district Farrukhabad.

¶5One of the terms mentioned in the policy guidelines for selection of dealers/distributors of 1977 was that preference would be given to the candidate belonging to the district in which the proposed dealership/distributorship is advertised.

¶6In these circumstances, we are of the opinion that the High Court was right in directing that respondent No. 1 Smt. Meena Kumari should have been p given preference and granted the licence for the petrol pump. Since she is a resident of Kanpur Dehat for which locality the dealership was being granted, she had preference.

¶7For the reasons given above, we find no merit in this appeal. The appeal is dismissed accordingly. No costs.

Case details

Arising from

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 7215 of2000.

From the Final Judgment and Order dated 14.09.2000 of the High Court :i of Judicature at Allahabad in Civil Misc. Petition No. 40236 of 1999.

Appearances

H.K. Puri for the Appellant.

Dinesh Dwivedi, (for K.L. Mehta & Co.) for the Respondents.

Source: Supreme Court of India, Digital Supreme Court Reports, via the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open dataset (CC BY 4.0). Text was extracted from the official PDF and may contain conversion errors. Check the official PDF before relying on it.