Gujarat High Court
Pankajkumar Chandrakant Khambhatwala vs The Union Of India on 11 December, 2020
Author: N.V.Anjaria
Bench: N.V.Anjaria, Vaibhavi D. Nanavati
C/SCA/15718/2020 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 15718 of 2020
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PANKAJKUMAR CHANDRAKANT KHAMBHATWALA
Versus
THE UNION OF INDIA
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Appearance:
MR SP MAJMUDAR(3456) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2,3,4
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.V.ANJARIA
and
HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE VAIBHAVI D. NANAVATI
Date : 11/12/2020
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.V.ANJARIA) Heard learned advocate Mr. S.P. Majmudar for the petitioner.
2. What is prayed in this petition is to direct the respondent- Indian Oil Corporation Limited to award to the petitioner the Retail Outlet (RO) dealership pursuant to the process of selection undertaken by the respondent-Corporation to allot the same. Interim relief is prayed for whereby the petitioner seeks a direction against the respondent-Corporation to award Retail Outlet to the petitioner and further not to award it to anybody else.
3. It is revealed from the facts stated in the petition that an advertisement came to be published on 25.11.2018 by the Corporation for the purpose of allotment of the Retail Outlet within the limits of Village Bavla. In the advertisement what was mentioned by the Corporation was Village Bavla with Taluka Patan. The petitioner applied by paying the fees, the reference Page 1 of 4 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 12 08:26:38 IST 2020 C/SCA/15718/2020 ORDER number of the petitioner was generated on the portal of the Corporation and the application of the petitioner was processed calling for further details, which were furnished by the petitioner on 29.3.2019.
3.1 The petitioner offered leasehold land situated at Revenue Survey No.226/10 admeasuring 3924 sq.mts. and Revenue Survey No.226/9/paiki 1/paiki 1 North admeasuring 373 sq.mts out of the total area, situated at and located within the said Village Bavla, in respect of which the advertisement was issued. The petitioner came to be treated under Group 1 category, whereby the petitioner was recognized for having suitable piece of land available with him in the advertised location on the basis of long-term lease of such land. The conditions in the tender invited by the Corporation have been fulfilled by the petitioner as per the case of the petitioner.
3.2 The petitioner came to be informed on 20.6.2019 by the Corporation that the petitioner is treated as eligible candidate, and further that the petitioner was selected for allotment. The petitioner was also informed that the drawing of lots was not necessary since the petitioner was found to be only eligible participating candidate for the purpose of awarding of the dealership. The petitioner was asked to pay online Rs. 40,000/- towards initial security deposit, which amount was transferred by the petitioner on 3.7.2019 and along therewith, other necessary documents as required by the Corporation were also handed over.
3.3 Thereafter on behalf of the petitioner, land survey No.226/10 ad measuring 3924 sq.mts came to be purchased for the purpose of securing the RO dealership. The documents in Page 2 of 4 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 12 08:26:38 IST 2020 C/SCA/15718/2020 ORDER that regard were submitted to the Corporation and the Corporation responded by sending its land evaluation committee at the site for the purpose of inspection. The petitioner was asked to depute an authorized representative. Verification was carried out and letter dated 5.12.2019 was issued to the petitioner about the verification. In December, 2019 the respondent-Corporation required the petitioner to remove the electricity poles situated on the land for which the petitioner deposited the amount with the Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited, as required.
3.4 Having undergone the above process and having so acted upon as required by the Corporation, it is the case of the petitioner that on 11.3.2020 the petitioner received a message through e-mail from the Corporation that the subject location was cancelled. The cancellation was on the ground that Taluka name was wrongly mentioned as Patan, whereas the village Bavla happened to be in Saraswavi Taluka.
4. Learned advocate for the petitioner pointed out on the basis of the letters dated 11.3.2020 (Annexure-M, Page 163) read with letter dated 13.8.2020 [Annexure-O (colly.), Page 188] that the ground putforth by the Corporation to cancel the advertised location was that the Village Bavla mentioned in the advertisement with Taluka Patan was actually located in Saraswati Taluka and for that the competent authority had issued the Notification as back as in the year 2013.
4.1 It could be submitted at this stage that cancellation of the process is based on a non-essential consideration which cannot be said to have a bearing aspect. It was further submitted that law of estoppel would come into play and that the petitioner has Page 3 of 4 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 12 08:26:38 IST 2020 C/SCA/15718/2020 ORDER substantially changed his position to his detriment.
5. Prima facie, a strong case is made out.
6. Notice, returnable on 2.2.2021.
7. By way of ad-interim relief, the respondent-Corporation is restrained from proceeding further and it is further restrained from awarding the dealership to anybody in the said Village Bavla.
Direct service is permitted.
(N.V.ANJARIA, J) (VAIBHAVI D. NANAVATI, J) Pallavi/ Manshi Page 4 of 4 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 12 08:26:38 IST 2020