Debi Prosad Dey, J. - (1.) The petitioner, being a government company as defined in Section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 and a public sector enterprise of Government of India under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (herein after referred to as petitioner only) has filed this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the following prayers: a. A writ in the nature of Mandamus commanding the Respondents and each of them to act in accordance with law; b. A writ in the nature of Mandamus commanding the Respondent Nos.1 to 4 to render Police Assistance in running the retail outlet of the petitioner at Premises No.177E, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Police Station: Tollygunge, Kolkata- 700026 and to remove obstruction if any created by the Private Respondent Nos. 5 and 6 particularly in terms of the Order dated 09.12.2014 passed by the Learned Executive Magistrate 1st Court at Alipore in M.P. Case No. 2656 of 2014. c. A writ in the nature of Certiorari commanding the Respondents and each one of them to certify and transmit record of the case of this Hon'ble Court so that this Hon'ble Court may upon considering the same pass appropriate order so as to do conscionable justice to the petitioner; d. Injunction restraining the Private Respondent Nos. 5 and 6 and their men and agents from obstructing the petitioner to operate the retail outlet peacefully from the said premises; e. Direction be passed upon the Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 to render police assistance to run the said retail outlet of the Petitioner Corporation through its appointed adhoc dealer M/s. Woodland Service Station by removing the obstruction if any made by the respondent Nos. 5 and 6 and their men and agent; f. Rule NISI in terms of prayers a. to c. above; g. Interim order in terms of prayer d. & e above; h. Costs of this application; i. Such further Order and/or Orders as Your Lordships may deem, fit and proper.
(2.) The specific case of the petitioner is that the state authorities and the private respondent no. 5 and 6 are illegally and wrongfully obstructing the petitioner to operate the retail outlet at 177E S. P. Mukherjee Road, P.S- Tollygunge, Calcutta- 700026. The said property actually belonged to one Chandi Madhav Banerjee. Chandi Madhav Banerjee by a registered lease deed dated 10th November, 1954 granted lease in respect of the said immovable property in favour of the erst while company namely Caltex (India) Limited finally for a period of 10 years with renewal clause and thereafter the said lease was time to time renewed on 29th April, 1966 and subsequently on 14th April, 1975 with renewal clause. While the said lease was continuing, the Caltex (acquisition of shares of Caltex oil refining) (India) Limited Act 1977 came into effect and the said Act was introduced to provide the acquisition and transfer of the right, title and interest of Messers Caltex (India) Limited in relation to its understanding with a view to ensuring co-operation in distribution and utilization of the petroleum product distributed and marketed in India by the said erst while company and for matters connected there with or incidental thereto.
(3.) The Central Government in fact on the strength of the aforesaid Act took over the right, title and interest of the said company and thereby the Central Government has become the owner of such company or lessee as the case may be, only to such undertaking and all the rights and liabilities of the Central Government in relation to such undertakings shall on and from the date of such vesting be deemed to have become the rights and liabilities of the Government company. The Central Government by notification dated 9th May, 1978 transferred the right of erst while company in favour of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited being the government company and as such the petitioner company has become the lessee in respect of the said immovable property. The petitioner has further stated that the said immovable property being premises no. 177E S. P. Mukherjee Road, Calcutta- 700026 is governed by the Thika Tenancy Act, 1981 and also governed by the West Bengal Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulations) Act, 2001. In terms of the provisions of the aforesaid Act, the property under reference has been vested with the Government of West Bengal and your petitioner is paying the rent of such property to the government of West Bengal and in fact, whether the said property is covered under Thika Tenancy Act is under consideration of appropriate authorities namely controller Calcutta Thika tenancy. The petitioner has obtained an information wherefrom it appears that the premises no. 177E S. P. Mukherjee Road is prima facie thika tenanted property subject to final determination under Section 5(3) of West Bengal Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation ) Act, 2001. One Utpal Sengupta(since deceased) was initially appointed by the erst while Caltex (India) Limited in the year 1974 as dealer in sale and supply of petrol/diesel from the said retail outlet and he was operating the said retail outlet under the name of Power Pack India in premises no. 177 E S. P. Mukherjee Road, Calcutta- 700026. The said dealership was time to time renewed by the dealership agreement dated 10th December, 2007 and thereafter dated 23rd September, 2013 for a period of 10 years with effect from 3rd November, 2011 vide annexure P3.;