IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.6144 of 2009 Between: Medapati Vijaya Venkata Reddy, s/o. Mangi Reddy, R/o. Ubalanka Village, Ravulapalem Mandal, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONER AND Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Marketing Division, Visakhapatnam, Visakha Divisional Office, 8th Floor, LIC Building, Jeevitha Bheema Road, Visakhapatnam, Rep. by Senior Divisional Retail Sales Manager. .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction declaring the action of the Respondent in continuing the suspension of the supplies to the petitioner's retail outlet at P. Gannavaram Village and Mandal, East Godavari District, as illegal, arbitrary and consequently direct the Respondent to supply the petroleum products to the petitioner's outlet. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.S.V.RAMANA Counsel for the Respondent: MR. THOOM SRINIVAS The Court made the following: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.6144 OF 2009 ORDER: Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondent Corporation. According to the petitioner, he has been running a retail outlet of Indian Oil in the name and style of ‘Sri Vijaya Sai Filling Station’ at P.Gannavaram Village and Mandal, East Godavari District, having obtained dealership from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited, the respondent herein. It is his case that on 30.10.2008, an inspection was conducted by the authorities of the Corporation and MS and HSD Nozzle samples were drawn as per the procedure and were sent to laboratory for clinical & Research Octane Number (RON) testing. Thereafter, on 21.11.2008, a letter was addressed to the petitioner intimating that the sales and supplies to his retail outlet were suspended with immediate effect, for the reason that the sample sent to the laboratory was found to have failed to meet the standards specified, and the petitioner was directed not to make any sales or any receipts till the respondent Corporation advises him in writing. Simultaneously, a show-cause notice was also issued to the petitioner on the same day, stating that, as per the Marketing Disciplinary Guidelines, penal action for the said irregularity is termination of the dealership at the first instance itself, and, therefore, he was required to show cause as to why the said penal action should not be initiated against him. The petitioner contends that pursuant to his request made to the respondent on receipt of the said show-cause notice, the sample was again sent to laboratory and a joint test was conducted in the presence of the petitioner’s representative and the Area Manager (Retail Sales) of Kakinada, and as per the report sent by the Laboratory on 12.01.2009, it was revealed in the joint test that the sample meets the specification with regard to the tests done. It is the grievance of the petitioner that though the said test report dated 12.01.2009 reveals no irregularity, the respondent Corporation is not supplying the petroleum products to his retail outlet. He, therefore, seeks direction to the respondent to supply the petroleum products to him. Learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondent Corporation, while opposing for granting the relief as sought for by the petitioner, on instructions, submits that the respondent Corporation is going to complete the enquiry contemplated against the petitioner, expeditiously, taking into consideration the second test report. In view of the above submission, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondent to complete the enquiry contemplated against the petitioner, taking into consideration the second test report as also the entire material, within a period of three weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________ JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA 24th March, 2009 Note:- Issue CC in two days. B/O IBL