HARDEV SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order would dispose of CWP Nos. 10654 and 16691, both of 1994, as they raise common questions of law.

(2.) Brief facts giving rise to the writ petition first above-mentioned are that the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPC, for short) respondent No. 2 invited applications for Dealership of Liquified Petroleum Gas (L.P.G.) for Yamuna Nagar for the defence category of 20/06/1993. The petitioner fulfilled the conditions of eligiblity and he applied in time. He attended interview on 17/02/1994. The Chairman and two Members of the Oil Selection Board awarded marks to the petitioner as also the other candidates interviewed for Dealership of the said location in their individual marking sheet. The Oil Selection Boards in seven States including Haryana were dissolved by order dated 2/03/1994, of the Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India. The Oil Selection Board for Haryana was reconstituted on 16/03/1994. The reconstituted Board again asked the petitioner to appear for interview on 10/08/1994. The case of the petitioner is that the recommendations by the Oil Selection Board on the basis of interviews held on or about 17/02/1994, were to be given effect in terms of the decision Annexure P7 dated 31/03/1993, and asking the petitioner to appear again in the interview so as to scrap the earlier selection was arbitrary and illegal. The petitioner, therefore, prays for a writ of mandamus directing the Oil Selection Board to declare the result of the interviews held on Feb. 17, 1994, and to grant the dealership in question for Yamunanagar according to that result.

(3.) A detailed written statement has been filed on behalf of respondents 3 and 4 by Shri Justice Harbans Lal (retired), Chairman of the Oil Selection Board, respondent No. 3. It has been stated that individual marking was done by the Members and the Chairman of the Oil Selection Board on the basis of the interviews held on Feb, 17, 1994. On that day, however, the comparative statement and the merit penel were not prepared until 2/03/1994, as no meeting of the Oil Selection Board took place in between Feb. 17, 1993, and 2/03/1994. The comparative statement Annexure R5 was prepared on 2/03/1994, and it was signed by all the three members including the Chairman at a joint sitting of the Members of the Board and thereafter forwarded to Mr. M.M. Khan, State level Coordinator-cum-Non Member Secretary of the Oil Selection Board in a staled cover. The merit panel along with the covering letter dated 2/03/1994, in a sealed cover was received by Mr. Sunil Jain, Personal Assistant to Mr. M.N. Khan on 2/03/1994, at 4.47 p.m. vide receipt Annexure R-3. The Government of India in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas vide Memo dated 12/04/1994, clarified that Merit panels received after 1/03/1994, should be ignored and if interviews were conducted and panels not received by the Oil Companies up to 1/03/1994, fresh interviews in all such cases should be conducted copy of the Memo dated 12/04/1994, is Annexure R-2. It was in pursuance of the aforesaid decision of the Ministry that fresh interviews were held with regard to the location in question.