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TMI Blog2017 (12) TMI 1806X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ering with the possession of the Respondent of the installation premises. As the sequence of events would unfold, the attendant facts do project a distressing state of affairs in the matter of distribution of State largesse, seemingly motivated by irrelevant considerations, deliberate defaults and casual disregard to binding judicial adjudications of a Constitutional Court. 2. We have heard Mr. Annam D.N. Rao, learned Counsel for the Appellants and Mr. Tripurari Ray, learned Counsel for the Respondent No. 1. Though served, but none has filed vakalatnama on behalf of Respondent No. 2. 3. First the skeletal facts, to facilitate the desired grip of the issues to be addressed. The Respondent herein, claiming to be an unemployed graduate but actively involved in activities pertaining to rural development and welfare of women, but without any regular source of livelihood, applied to the then Minister of Petroleum, Government of India, New Delhi for being sanctioned a petrol pump under his Special Discretionary Quota on the National Highway, Phutahia Chauraha, Tehsil and District Basti, U.P. The application was considered for allotment of a retail outlet dealership on compassionate grou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion of the aforementioned public contracts/distributorships/dealerships. Vis-à-vis the award in favour of the Respondent, it was held thus: A retail on National Highway Phutahia Chauraha, Teh. & Distt. Basti, UP, has been allotted to Smt. Shashi Prabha Shukla on her undated application on the ground that the applicant is unemployed graduate with keen interest in activities relating to rural development and welfare of women and has no regular source of livelihood. From the application it appears that the applicant is resident of district Sultanpur, UP. The allotment in her favour has also been made in a casual manner as is the case in respect of allotments in other cases noticed above. We were told by the learned Counsel for the applicant that the applicant is president of Youth Congress. Be that as it may, we feel that the allotment in favour of this applicant is no better than other allotments noticed by us. This petrol pump is also non operational. 6. On the basis of the findings recorded, which were held as well to be violative of the relevant guidelines of this Court on this issue and found to be prompted by extraneous considerations, the assailed allotments were dir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d with a stipulation that the highest bidder would arrange for the land/superstructure for running the Petrol Pump/Distributorship. In such an eventually, all connections hitherto with the distributor whose allotment has been cancelled shall be transferred to the establishment of the highest bidder. (4) The Ministry of Petroleum is directed to file compliance report by 15th December, 1997. 7. The above quote would yield the following salient features of the peremptory directives: a) The concerned petrol pumps/LPG/SKO Distributors would stop operation on and from 01.12.1997. b) The Government of India/all concerned Corporations would take over the petrol pump premises or distributorship premises on 01.12.1997. c) The concerned Oil Corporation would have the market value of the land, if it belongs to the allottee and/or the construction thereon determined in a fair and just manner forthwith. d) The right to run the petrol pumps and/or distributorships taken over by the Government/all Corporations concerned shall be disposed of by public auction to be held, if feasible, before 01.12.1997 so that as far as possible, the public may not suffer or the suffering is for a minimum ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o filed SLP (C) No. 19872 of 1997 before this Court challenging the judgment and order dated 29.08.1997, which was disposed of on 20.10.1997 leaving her at liberty, as prayed for, to seek a review before the High Court. Incidentally, the review petition filed by her was dismissed on 07.11.1997, whereupon she unsuccessfully assailed the same in a fresh special leave petition before this Court, which too was dismissed on 28.11.1997. Thus, the judgment and order dated 29.08.1997 of the Delhi High Court attained finality and eventually the retail outlet was closed and the facilities were taken over by the Corporation w.e.f. 01.12.1997. 10. The Respondent No. 1 however in response to the notice dated 13.10.1997, did call upon the Corporation to return the land in the same condition as it had been given to it within 15 days, stating further that failing which, it would be required to pay rent @ Rs. 50,000/- per month for use and occupation of the premises and also damages from 23.02.1996. 11. The Corporation thereafter issued an advertisement dated 05.10.1998 to auction the outlet hitherto allotted to the Respondent. Certain excerpts of the said advertisement being of decisive signific ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any controlled retail outlets only license to operate the dealership will be substituted with the word DEALERSHIP in the terms and conditions and its Annexures being sold from our office at Allahabad. Other terms and conditions shall be applicable as per earlier advertisement. 13. Mentionably, no other record has been laid before this Court to further elaborate on the terms and conditions of the proposed auction. 14. To reiterate, the High Court of Delhi in its rendition dated 29.08.1997, Vis-à-vis the cases where the allottee, whose allotment had been cancelled, was unwilling to sell/part with a land on which the petrol pump/distributorship was being operated, had directed the Corporation to auction the right to open petrol pump/distributorship within the close proximity of the existing location, as may be determined by it, depending upon the facts and circumstances of each case and the need of the public with the stipulation that the highest bidder would arrange for the land/super structure for running the petrol pump/distributorship. To put it differently, in the eventuality where the allottee was not willing to sell/part with the land on which the petrol pump/distrib ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icing that the proposed auction had not taken place and that consequently the Respondent had been permitted to run the retail outlet since 1998, directed the Corporation, in view of its new policy dated 12.02.2004, to award fresh dealership to the Respondent thereunder and further restrained it from interfering with her possession of the petrol pump premises in question. 18. As the impugned judgment would demonstrate, the High Court, while traversing the relevant facts, took note of the pleaded stand of the Corporation before it that the lease executed by the Respondent Vis-à-vis the land in question did subsist, cancellation of the dealership notwithstanding, and therefore she was not entitled for the possession thereof and that it had the right to induct some other dealer through the proposed auction to operate the agency from the land of the Respondent. The High Court, while readily dismissing this plea of the Corporation on the touchstone of Article 300A of the Constitution of India held that as the dealership was cancelled by the intervention of the Delhi High Court, it was not open for the Corporation to assert that the lease deed executed by her in its favour did sub ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ise required to be undertaken by the Corporation for identifying a location in the proximity of the existing location was pursued, had no convincing explanation therefor. 20. Controverting the above, the learned Counsel for the Respondent emphatically urged that in the attendant facts and circumstances, though the judgment and order dated 29.08.1997 of the Delhi High Court had attained finality, the operative direction to the Corporation to convert the existing dealership into a new dealership under the policy dated 12.02.2004 is unassailable and therefore no interference in this appeal is called for. While imputing that, the Corporation though required in cases of dealership under category 'A', to provide the whole infrastructure including the land, in the case of the Respondent, she was asked to make the arrangement therefor on her own investments, the learned Counsel maintained that the advertisement dated 05.10.1998, even if read with the corrigendum dated 13.10.1998 was apparently not in compliance of the directions of the Delhi High Court and, therefore could not have been given effect to. According to him, the auction had thus been rightly stayed by the Allahabad Hi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... issuing the direction to determine and specify a location in the proximity of the existing site was with the avowed purpose of avoiding confrontation and possible litigation and also to ensure smooth and uninhibited supply of petrol and HSD from the new outlet at the fresh venue. 22. In the facts of the present case, we subscribe to the view of the High Court of Allahabad that with the termination of the dealership, the lease between the parties also stood extinguished and therefore, the Respondent being the owner of the land and she having expressed her disinclination to sell or part with it, the Corporation by no means could have contemplated to award the new dealership to a third party on her land. On this clear premise, the failure of the Corporation to act in terms of the directions containing in the judgment and order of the Delhi High Court and in contending that the land of the Respondent was available for commissioning the new dealership is patently wrong besides being contumaciously irreverent and abusively non-compliant thereof. The approach and attitude of the Corporation in making the advertisement dated 05.10.1998 with the corrigendum dated 13.10.1998 and in taking ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons: A public authority may be described as a person or administrative body entrusted with functions to perform for the benefit of the public and not for private profit. Not every such person or body is expressly defined as public authority or body, and the meaning of a public authority or body may vary according to the statutory context. 25. In re, the duties, responsibilities and obligations of a public authority in a system based on Rule of law, unfettered discretion or power is an anathema as every public authority is a trustee of public faith and is under a duty to hold public property in trust for the benefit of the laity and not for any individual in particular. The following excerpts from the Foulkes Administrative Law, 7th Edition at page 174 provide the elaborate insight: A true trust exists when one person, the trustee, is under a duty to hold the trust property vested in him for the benefit of other persons, the beneficiaries. The term 'trust' is, however, used in a much wider sense. We may speak of government being 'entrusted' with power, of Parliament as the trustee which the nation has authorized to act on its behalf. The purpose of the use of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nown to the public by publication in the Official Gazette and other recognised modes of publicity and such policy must be implemented/executed by adopting a non-discriminatory and non-arbitrary method irrespective of the class or category of persons proposed to be benefited by the policy. The distribution of largesse like allotment of land, grant of quota, permit licence, etc. by the State and its agencies/instrumentalities should always be done in a fair and equitable manner and the element of favouritism or nepotism shall not influence the exercise of discretion, if any, conferred upon the particular functionary or officer of the State. 66. We may add that there cannot be any policy, much less, a rational policy of allotting land on the basis of applications made by individuals, bodies, organisations or institutions dehors an invitation or advertisement by the State or its agency/instrumentality. By entertaining applications made by individuals, organisations or institutions for allotment of land or for grant of any other type of largesse the State cannot exclude other eligible persons from lodging competing claim. Any allotment of land or grant of other form of largesse by the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ernment take many forms, but they all share one characteristic. They are steadily taking the place of traditional forms of wealth. These valuables which derive from relationships to Government are of many kinds. They comprise social security benefits, cash grants for political sufferers and the whole scheme of State and local welfare. Then again, thousands of people are employed in the State and the Central Governments and local authorities. Licences are required before one can engage in many kinds of businesses or work. The power of giving licences means power to withhold them and this gives control to the Government or to the agents of Government on the lives of many people. Many individuals and many more businesses enjoy largesse in the form of government contracts. These contracts often resemble subsidies. It is virtually impossible to lose money on them and many enterprises are set up primarily to do business with the Government. The Government owns and controls hundreds of acres of public land valuable for mining and other purposes. These resources are available for utilisation by private corporations and individuals by way of lease or licence. All these mean growth in the Go ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rily result in protection of national/public interest. 33. Jurisprudentially thus, as could be gleaned from the above legal enunciations, a public authority in its dealings has to be fair, objective, non-arbitrary, transparent and non-discriminatory. The discretion vested in such an authority, which is a concomitant of its power is coupled with duty and can never be unregulated or unbridled. Any decision or action contrary to these functional precepts would be at the pain of invalidation thereof. The State and its instrumentalities, be it a public authority, either as an individual or a collective has to essentially abide by this inalienable and non-negotiable prescriptions and cannot act in breach of the trust reposed by the polity and on extraneous considerations. In exercise of uncontrolled discretion and power, it cannot resort to any act to fritter, squander and emasculate any public property, be it by way of State largesse or contracts etc. Such outrages would clearly be unconstitutional and extinctive of the Rule of law which forms the bedrock of the constitutional order. 34. Adverting to the facts of the case, to recapitulate, the dealership of the Respondent had been can ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esting pre-determined perceptions and motivations in aid of the Respondent, resulting in such disagreeable culmination in her favour. The time lag, according to us, per se cannot purge the vitiation of the award of dealership originally granted to the Respondent, to entitle her to the relief granted by the impugned judgment and order, by way of a boon for the inexplicable faults and remiss in duty of the functionaries of the Corporation. In supervening public interest and to uphold the Rule of law as well as imperative of administrative fairness, transparency and objectivity, we are thus not inclined to sustain the impugned judgment and order. It is, therefore set aside so far as it holds that the Respondent is entitled to a new dealership at her location under the Policy dated 12.02.2014. We hereby reiterate that the dealership of the Respondent at her present location stands cancelled w.e.f. 01.12.1997. The Corporation would now take immediate steps to this effect as permissible in law without fail. The Corporation would also initiate a fresh process for award of new distributorship/dealership in the area and at a location to be determined by it, if it considers it necessary in p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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