Hon'ble Amitava Lala, J. - (1.) IN this writ petition the petitioner has prayed for quashing of the order/letter dated 18th March, 2011 issued by the respondent- INdian Oil Corporation Limited (hereinafter in short called as the "Corporation'), whereby petitioner's representation/ complaint dated 18th December, 2010 for taking her interview has been rejected, and has also prayed for a direction upon the respondents to take the interview of the petitioner within a stipulated period.
(2.) THE petitioner's case is that on 26th August, 2009 an advertisement was published in a newspaper by the Corporation inviting applications for selection of Dealership of Petrol/Diesel Rural Retail Outlet (Kisan Seva Kendra) at the location Akbarpur, District Aligarh. Pursuant to such advertisement the petitioner made her application on 29th September, 2009, with regard to which the receipt dated 5th October, 2009 was issued by the respondents. Call letter was issued by the respondents on 22nd October, 2010 inviting the petitioner for interview on 11th November, 2010 at 10.00 a.m. at Agra. Admittedly, the aforesaid call letter was issued by the Corporation by speed post, an urgent delivery scheme of the Indian Postal Department. However/the aforesaid call letter reached to the petitioner on the date of interview i.e. on 11th November, 2010 at 3.00 p.m. THErefore, the petitioner could not attend the interview on the relevant date and time. In such selection process, one Smt. Pushpa Singh has been selected. THE petitioner wrote a letter dated 12th November, 2010 to the respondent-Corporation for taking her interview in view of non-receipt of the call letter within time to make her available in the interview. THEreafter, the petitioner again made a complaint/ representation dated 23rd November, 2010 to the respondent-Corporation raising her grievance. However, when no heed was paid by the respondents towards the same, the petitioner filed Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 69835 of 2010, Gunjan Bharadwaj v. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and another. Such writ petition was disposed of by a Division Bench of this Court by order dated 09th December, 2010 directing the respondents-Corporation to consider the grievance of the petitioner, particularly on the submission of learned Counsel appearing for the Corporation that if the petitioner submits a copy of the complaint, which was already filed, the same will be considered. Again the representation was filed by the petitioner on 18th December, 2010, which has been rejected by order dated 18th March, 2011 holding that there was no fault on the part of the Corporation in delay delivery of the call letter dated 22nd October, 2010 to the petitioner. In such circumstances, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition. Upon going through the order impugned dated 18th March, 2011 we find that the stand of the Corporation is that as per the policy of the Corporation, a notice of minimum 15 days is to be given to the candidates called for interview, whereas in the case of the petitioner the call letter was issued 20 days before the date of interview. Against this background, a question arose before this Court whose fault is this, by which the petitioner was prevented from attending the interview on the relevant date and time. Is it fault of the Corporation, which has sent the call letter prior to 20 days of the interview i.e. more than the period of minimum 15 days prescribed in the norms, or the postal department? According to the Corporation, it had dispatched the call letter 20 days before from the date of interview by "speed post, an urgent delivery scheme of the Indian Postal Department, therefore, it is fault of the postal department itself in not delivering such call letter to the petitioner within time inspite of urgent delivery scheme of the Indian Postal Department having been adopted by the Corporation i.e. delivery by "speed post'.
(3.) AS per Clause 10 (i) of the Brochure on Selection of Petrol/Diesel Rural Retail Outlet (Kisan Seva Kendra) Dealers of the Corporation being dated 1st July, 2010 (hereinafter in short called as the "Brochure'), the applications received after the cut-off date for any reason including postal delay, and those without accompanying valid documents like affidavits, certificates etc., application fee or incomplete in any respect will not be considered and no correspondence will be entertained by the Corporation in such cases whatsoever. Therefore, in view of the expressed terms and conditions of the brochure, the Corporation will not be held responsible for any postal delay. Postal delay can be considered as one of the cause, provided there is any fault on the part of the Corporation in issuing the call letter departing from the norms, which provides that at least 15 days before the interview call letter will be issued. There is no dispute that call letter was issued to the petitioner 20 days before the date of interview.;