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SC stays Centre's order cancelling petrol pump dealerships

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI Aug. 28. The Supreme Court today stayed the Central Government's omnibus notification issued on August 9 cancelling petrol pump, liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) and kerosene dealerships allotted since January 2000.

(After the petrol pump scandal broke out and the Opposition made it a major issue in Parliament, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, ordered the cancellation of all petrol pump, gas and kerosene agency allotments on August 5. And the Centre issued a notification on August 9 cancelling 3,546 allotments).

A three-judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, B.N. Kirpal, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice Arijit Pasayat, while ordering ``status quo'' as on August 9, faulted the Government for not giving any notice to the dealers before cancelling the allotments.

Passing interim orders on the Centre's petition seeking the transfer of all the cases pending before the various High Courts to the Supreme Court, the Bench made it clear that the ``status quo'' order would be applicable only to 2,248 retail outlets, which had been commissioned. "As a result thereof, the dealers and distributors shall continue to operate their dealerships or distributorships as per their original contract or agreement with the oil companies concerned.'' It would not apply to the 1,298 cases, which were yet to be commissioned and in which the oil companies had issued only letters of intent. But, that the letters of intent should not be allotted to anyone pending disposal of the transfer petition.

As for the 463 outlets which had been taken possession of by the oil companies after the cancellation order, the Bench directed that the possession be restored to the dealers as expeditiously as possible but not later than two weeks. They should maintain proper accounts and continue to operate their business as per their original contract with the oil companies, the Bench said. It also made it clear that its interim orders would supercede all the interim orders passed by the High Courts or subordinate courts across the country.

Earlier, the Additional Solicitor-General, Kirit Raval, submitted that the Government had taken the decision only after due deliberation in view of the controversy surrounding the selection.

But the Bench said that "you have taken the decision after due deliberation but what prevented you from issuing a notice to a person before taking away his livelihood? Who will pay the instalments for repayment of the loans he has taken? If the reason for cancellation is fraud, we have no sympathy for them but that is not the case here.''

The Bench directed the transfer of 11 representative cases from the High Courts of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bombay and Gujarat and fixed November 12 for a final hearing of the cases. It stayed all the proceedings in the writ petitions pending in various High Courts.

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