- (1.) This appeal arises from the judgment and order of the division bench of Delhi High court in Civil Writ Petition No. 3165 of 1991 dated 1/11/1991. Writ Petition No. 253 of 1993 was filed by an Association and also a partner as an individual. Writ Petition No. 64 of 1994 was Filed by the petitioner who is a widow and daughter of a dealer in petroleum products. These matters relate to the contracts of dealership or distributorship of petroleum products awardable by the government of India Undertakings. In the first case, admittedly, the appellant's son-in-law is already having a dealership for distribution of petroleum products. In the second case it is an admitted fact that one of the appellant's partners is already having a dealership of petroleum products and in the third case, the appellant's mother is already having a dealership of petroleum products.
(2.) The questions raised in these appeals/petitions are whether the government is justified in imposition of eligibility restrictions in the award of retail outlets (other than 2/3 wheeler ROs) , SKO-LD dealerships and LPG distributorships guidelines. Part III of the guidelines prescribes the eligibility criteria, viz. , nationality, age on the date of application, educational qualifications, residence, SC/st certificates, eligibility for freedom-fighters and physically handicapped/government personnel disabled on duty/widows of government personnel who die in the course of duty. Then dealer's relationship (applicable for all categories) has been prescribed as one of the criteria which reads as under : (A) No person or a Consumer Cooperative Society shall be awarded a new dealership/distributorship if he/she or the Consumer Cooperative society already holds a dealership/distributorship of LPG/kerosene/ ldo/hsd/ms/lubricating oil of any oil company. (B) No person shall be awarded a new dealership/distributorship if any of the following close relatives (including step-relatives) of the person already hold a dealership/distributorship of LPG/ kerosene/ ldo/hsd/ms/lubricating oil or any other petroleum products of any oil company.
(3.) Clause 10 of the guidelines relates to partnerships with which we are concerned in one of the matters. The procedure for selection has been prescribed in Part VI of the guidelines. Criterion No. 2 relates to screening of the applicants for interview. Then, Rule 3 relates to norms for evaluation of competing claims of the candidates and Rule 5 regulates selection of dealers/distributors. In this case, we are concerned with dealership of petroleum products applicable for all categories in which clause (b) prescribes ineligibility of persons if one of the persons mentioned therein has already a dealership. It is seen that one of the conditions subject to which a candidate is entitled to apply for grant of dealership is that his spouse, father/mother, brother/sister, son/daughter, son-in-law/daughter-in-law and parents-in-law if already had been given dealership, he/she is made ineligible to apply for dealership. In the case of partnerships, partners should individually fulfil the above-mentioned eligibility criteria/conditions and all of them must appear for an interview together.;