S K SHARMA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Petition which has been filed by way of Public interest Litigation is concerned with the short supply of and adulteration in petrol and diesel. The further allegation is that the Petitioner was cheated by Respondent No. 5 who is engaged in selling petrol/diesel and in support of this allegation the Petitioner has set forth the instance of his Maruti 800 vehicle being filled with 31.1 litters of petrol when, as per his allegation, the fuel tank capacity is only 30 litters. This, the Petitioner alleges, clearly shows that there was a short supply of fuel to him although he was charged for 31.1 litters of petrol vide Receipt No. 0094 dated 16.5.2000. Inter alia, on the basis of this incident the Petitioner has sought that a writ of Mandamus be issued commanding the Respondent No. 1 to have a probe into the question of short and adulterated supply of petrol and diesel to the general public. The Petitioner has also sought a direction for the closure of the Respondent No. 5's Filling Station (Rakesh Filling Station) amongst other prayers.

(2.) Apart from the fact that the grievance of the Petitioner is in the nature of an individual complaint and does not fall within the ambit of Public Interest Litigation, we feel that, from the affidavits in reply filed by the Respondents, sufficient action has already been taken as will be indicated below and that, consequently, no further directions are necessary.

(3.) The Respondent No. 7 (I.B.P. Company Limited) in its reply/affidavit has stated that upon inspection carried out by its officers, it came to the conclusion that in point of fact some short delivery had actually been made to the Petitioner. When they made inspection of the retail outlet of Respondent No. 5 they found that one out of 12 dispensing units of MS (Petrol), was found to be not in operation, 7 were found to be delivering OK, one was delivering in excess by 40 ml and 3 were found to be delivering short by 60 ml, 50 ml and 50 ml respectively. Out of eight dispensing units of HSD (Diesel) one was found to be non- operational, five were delivering OK, one was delivering in excess by 25 ml. and one was found to be delivering short by 50 ml. They also found that the dispensing unit of petrol from where the Petitioner had been affected delivery was delivering OK and. more importantly, that the Weights and Measures seals were found to be intact in all the dispensing units. Accordingly, Respondent No. 5 was advised to suspend sales from all the dispensing units which were delivering short or excess and was asked to have the said units recaliberated by the Weights and Measures Department. They further pointed out in their affidavit that a Show Cause Notice dated 25.5.2000 had also been issued upon Respondent No. 5 in line with the policy/Guidelines laid down in this respect and uniformly followed by the entire Oil Industry.