Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Shuvendu Barai vs Union Of India & Ors on 8 August, 2019
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction
Appellate Side
W.P. No. 18234 (W) of 2018
Shuvendu Barai
Vs.
Union of India & Ors.
For the Petitioner : Mr. Debasish Chattopadhayay
Mr. Gobinda Chandra Baidya
For the respondent no.7 : Mr. Partha Sarathi Bhattacharya
Mr. Rajdeep Bhattacharya For the IOCL : Mr. Puspendu Chakraborty Mr. Debobrata Sen Hearing concluded on : August 08, 2019 Judgment on : August 08, 2019 DEBANGSU BASAK, J.:-
Petitioner seeks a direction upon the oil company to issue a letter of appointment for running Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Distribution on a plot of land lying and situated at Mouza Bajitpur, Gazna Gram Panchayat under Hanshkhali Block.
Learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner participated in a selection process for appointment of LPG distributorship undertaken by the oil companies in respect of the location described in Serial No.155 of the notice inviting tender. He submits that, the petitioner offered a land, which is within Gazna village. He refers to the title deed in respect of such land. He submits that the land offered by the petitioner is in terms of the brochure governing the subject tender. The oil company is incorrect in rejecting the candidature of the petitioner. Therefore, the petitioner should be considered as a valid participant and the oil company should be directed to take necessary steps with regard thereto.
The oil company and the private respondents are represented. Learned Advocate appearing for the oil company submits that, Serial No.155 describes the location at which, a participant must have requisite land for such participant to be treated as a valid participant and its candidature considered. According to him, Serial No.155 of the subject tender defines Gazna as the location. The other description provides the Gram Panchayat, Block, District in the notice for the purpose of better identification of the location. He refers to the various clauses of the brochure and submits that, the village described in the location is to be understood as the revenue village by the same name. He relies upon an unreported judgment and order dated March 28, 2019 delivered by the Division Bench in MAT No.233 of 2019 with CAN 1839 of 2019 and CAN 1840 of 2019. He submits that, the land offered by the petitioner is located in Mouza Bajitpur. Land must be within Gazna Mouza. Petitioner did not offer any land within Gazna Mouza. Therefore, the candidature of the petitioner cannot be considered to be one of any validity for the oil company to grant any distributorship to the petitioner.
Learned Senior Advocate appearing for the private respondents adopts the submissions advanced on behalf of the oil company.
The petitioner participated for LPG distributorship in respect of Gazna village. The Division Bench in MAT 233 of 2019 referred to a decision reported at 2018 (1) CHN (CAL) 675 (Ranjit Kumar Rishi versus Union of India) and held that, the expression "Village" in English and word "Gram" in Bengali are synonymous. The village generally comprises of one Mouza, there are instances where a village can comprise of either a part of a Mouza or group of contiguous Mouzas or part thereof.
In the facts of the present case as noted above, the notice inviting tender describes the location to be Gazna. Two clauses of the brochure governing the selection process are material. They are the definitions of "village" and "location" which are as follows:-
"h. Village: In this document, Village means the basic unit for rural areas which is the revenue village which has definite surveyed boundaries. The revenue village may comprise several hamlets.
y. Location - In this document, word location means the area identified for setting up of new LPG Distributor. It can be a locality/village/cluster of villages/town or city which is mentioned in the Notice for Appointment of LPG Distributors."
Reading the definition of village and location as given in the brochure along with the ratio laid down by the Division Bench as noted above, the irresistible conclusion is that, oil company required a land lying and situated within the Mouza Gazna. Mouza Gazna would be the revenue village Gazna. Gazna is the location identified in Serial No.155 of the notice inviting tender. Admittedly, the land offered by the petitioner is at Mouza Bajitpur which is a different Mouza. Therefore, there is no infirmity in the oil company in not considering the candidature of the petitioner in the selection process due to the petitioner lacking requisite land at the requisite location.
W.P.18234 (W) of 2018 is dismissed.
Interim order, if any, stands vacated.
There shall be no order as to costs.
Urgent certified website copies of this order, if applied for, be made available to the parties upon compliance of the requisite formalities.
[DEBANGSU BASAK, J.]