ABHAY SINGH MANKOTIA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of C. W. P. Nos. 3163 of 1988 and 998 of 1989, as common "questions of facts and law are involved. In the first writ petition, that is C. W, P No. 3163. of 1988 the factual position is as under :- Distributorship of gas agency (Liquified Petroleum Gas) by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited a Government of India undertaking, controlled by the Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India was to be allotted to unemployed graduates for Kangra town in Himachal Pradesh, according to the conditions of eligibility, as advertised on 13th May, 1985, on the basis of selection to be made by the Chairman, Oil Selection Board (North) new Delhi According to the advertisement, one of the conditions of eligibility was that the unemployed graduate applying for the distributorship should be "resident of Kangra district".

(2.) IN response to the advertisement a number of persons, including the petitioner and respondent No. 4. Mrs Kamal Abrol, had applied, and after the interview the choice fell in favour of respondent No. 4, It is this allotment of distributor ship in favour of respondent No. 4 which has been challenged in this writ petition solely on the ground that respondent No. 4 Smt. Kamal Abrol, is not a resident of Kangra distict, as the residency certificate produced by her in support of her candidature is not in order.

(3.) EFFORTS have been made by the petitioner to produce voluminous documentary evidence on the record to contend that in fact Smt. Kamal Abrol married to Shri Yash Pal Abrol, was a resident of district Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and it was at that place that her name stood entered in the electoral rolls. A certificate has also been obtained from the Panchayat Secretary of Gram Panchayat, Bir, in district Kangra, to the effect that Smt. Kamal Abrol was not a resident of that village.