- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The appellant is the owner in possession of the premises being land measuring 2571 sq. yards on Rewari-Palwal-Delhi Road, Rewari and Khewat No. 1139/941, Khatauni no. 1380, Rectangle No. 117, Kila No. 2412/2 (2-0), Khewat No. 1125/930 mm, Khautani No. 136 mm, Rectangle No. 117, Kila No. 24/211 (1-9), Rectangle N. 150, 6/80 share Le. 6 maria out of Kila No. 411 (4-0) total measuring Kanal 5 marla in 3 kittas thereabouts. The respondent no.1, namely, Indian Oil Corporation (for short, the 'Corporation') issued an advertisement in the newspaper on 6.10.2000 for retail outlet dealership in the state of Delhi and Haryana for which the appellant applied and was selected. Letter of intent was issued in his favour on 6.7.2001. It was stipulated in the said letter of intent that the appellant was required to own a suitable plot of land and entered into a long-term lease with the Corporation at the rate acceptable to the respondent. To meet the mandate of the letter of intent, the appellant bought the land in question for the purpose of getting dealership agreement. On 23.10.2001, the appellant executed a long-term lease of 30 years in accordance with the terms of the advertisement and the letter of intent in favour of the Corporation at the monthly rent of Rs.10,000/-. After completion of formalities, a dealership agreement was entered into between the appellant and the Corporation on 14.5.2002. Be it noted, as per the letter of intent, the Corporation was to provide certain facilities and develop the land as an outlet with an office building, storage tank and pump, etc. for operating the dealership and it was to charge the appellant a licence fee for the said facilities.
(3.) The allotment of such petrol pumps by the competent authorities became a front page news item in Indian Express mentioning that there had been grant of retail outlets of petrol pumps to the near and dear ones of the political functionaries on account of political consideration. Number of cases were filed in various courts and all of them were transferred to this Court and a two-Judge Bench in Onkar Lal Bajaj v. Union of India, 2003 2 SCC 673 after referring to such earlier event that was the subject matter of Common Cause, a Registered Society v. Union of India, 1996 6 SCC 530 wherein it had been observed that for these kind of allotments, a transparent and objective criteria/procedure has to be evolved based on reason, fair play and non-arbitrariness, adverted to many a facet, namely, the criteria evolved for grant of dealership, the concept of probity in governance and the concept of public interest, the role of the executive and the right of the public to know the circumstance under which their elected representatives get the outlets and/or dealerships/distributorships, and directed as follows:- "In view of the aforesaid: I. We appoint a committee comprising Mr Justice S.C. Agrawal, a retired Judge of this Court and Mr Justice P.K. Bahri, a retired Judge of the Delhi High Court, to examine the aforesaid 413 cases. We request the Committee to submit the report to this Court within a period of three months. II. The Committee would devise its own procedure for undertaking the examination of these cases. If considered necessary, the Committee may appoint any person to assist it. III. We direct the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India and the four oil companies to render full, complete and meaningful assistance and cooperation to the Committee. The relevant records are directed to be produced before the Committee within five days. IV. We direct the Ministry to appoint a nodal officer not below the rank of a Joint Secretary for effective working of the Committee. V. The Central Government, State Government/Union Territories and all others are directed to render such assistance to the Committee as may be directed by it. VI. The oil companies are directed to provide as per the Committee's directions, the requisite infrastructure, staff, transport and make necessary arrangements, whenever so directed, for travel, stay, payments and other facilities etc. VII. In respect of any case if the Committee, on preliminary examination of the facts and records, forms an opinion that the allotment was made on merits and not as a result of political connections or patronage or other extraneous considerations, it would be open to the Committee not to proceed with the probe in detail.";