GUDIVAKA SRINIVASA RAO Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the following relieff:

(2.) The case of the petitioner, in brief, is that he is operating retail outlet of the respondent corporation under the name and style "Aditya Filling Station" in Koduru, Krishna District from 21/8/2014 onwards and pursuantly, SAP account i.e. Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing account was created for him, through which all the transactions relating to the retail outlet take place, which is solely accessible by the respondent corporation, enabling it to unilaterally debit amount from the account without intimating the dealer and without taking consent from the dealer. The respondent corporation introduced digital e-locking system and installed it in the tank trucks to ensure safe delivery of petroleum products from Corporation's terminal i.e. supply point to the retail outlets. As per clause 9(a) of the Dealership Agreement, the corporation shall supply the products (MS/HSD) at the premises of the Dealer. Contrary to the said clause, the respondent corporation is collecting Rs.1479.00every month towards rentals of digital e-locking system since 13/5/2020. Though the petitioner did not sign the addendum, clause-1 of which states that Rs.1253.0050 along with 18% GST will be recovered from the dealers for operation of e-locking system and without there being any agreement between the petitioner and respondent corporation to debit the amount for providing e-locking system services, the respondent corporation is debiting Rs.1,479.00for every single month since May,2020 from the petitioner's SAP account and till date they have debited Rs.48,811.62.

(3.) The respondent nos. 2 to 6 filed counter affidavit denying the averments of the writ affidavit and further contended that, the very object of providing very Small Aperture Terminal (V-SAT) service is to provide the stable and better connectivity in every Retail Outlet and to address the issues like frequent disconnection so that real time information is received to the corporation from the respective Retail Outlet. The fundamental premise is installing the VSAT is to ensure that Retail Outlet is operating as per Corporation manual and guidelines and to avoiod mismanagement of the Retail Outlet by timely intervention. VSAT has not only helped the Corporation but also the dealers in analysis of Q&Q assurance and can monitor the sales performance, alerts, stock, price update and sales transaction on real time basis. To roll out VSAT services, the corporation has engaged M/s Nelco Limited. From the e-RACTS records of the corporation, it is evident that the petitioner was using VSAT services and whenever there were technical issues, the petitioner was lodging complaints and they are being addressed without any undue delay.