1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR. Writ Petition No.1175 of 2007 [Sau. Anuradha Jagdish Vs. Union of India & ors.] Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram appearances, Court's orders or directions Court's or Judge's Orders and Registrar's orders. Mr. S.A. Gordey, Adv., appointed as Amicus Curiae. Mr. A.D. Sonak, AGP for respondent nos. 2 and 3. Mrs. U.A. Patil, Adv., for respondent nos. 4 and 5. ----- Coram : B.H. Marlapalle AND A.H. Joshi, JJ. Dated : 10th December, 2008. 1. One Mrs. Anuradha Jagdish, claiming to be a Teacher, submitted a letter dated 25th February, 2007 to this Court on the basis of a newspaper report published in the Daily “Loksatta” on 26th February, 2007. 2. The newspaper report went to state that the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had alleged about some black marketing activities indulged in by the Gas Agencies in North Nagpur under the pretext of shortage of the domestic gas cylinders and the agents were collecting huge amount by selling the cylinders for Rs.400/- to Rs.500/-. It was also alleged that the consumers were required to stand in queues and cylinders were not available for 20 to 25 days. The report further states that the citizens have lodged complaints from time to time and nothing was 2 done by the Govt. Authorities. As per the report, the entire North Nagpur was in the grip of the shortage of domestic gas supply and despite warning of agitation by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists, no improvement was noticed. 3. Based on this newspaper report, Mrs. Anuradha Jagdish addressed the letter dated 25th February, 2007 and highlighted the black marketing activities indulged in by some of the domestic gas suppliers, like Prayagraj Gas Company, South Nagpur and Savita Gas Company, North Nagpur. This letter, purportedly written by one Mrs. Anuradha Jagdish, was treated as a Public Interest Litigation Petition and came to be registered as Writ Petition No. 1175 of 2007. 4. Though orders have been passed from time to time, at no point of time, the complainant Mrs. Anuradha Jagdish was identified, or called upon to assist the Court and, therefore, it is not known whether such a person exists or it is an anonymous complaint. 5. Be that as it may, orders were passed from time to time, and respondent no.3, i.e., the Commissioner of Police, Nagpur, the respondent no.2 – District Supply Officer, Nagpur, have filed affidavits as well as additional affidavits. M/s. Prayagraj Gas Agency and M/s. Savita Gas Agency came to be impleaded as respondent nos. 4 and 5 and they have also filed their replies. 3 6. The District Supply Officer has placed before us the additional reply pursuant to our directions dated 12th November, 2008. As per this reply filed before us today in compliance of our order dated 12th November, 2008, the District Supply Officer has held a joint meeting of the officers from HPCL, BPCL and IOCL, i.e., three Oil Companies who are supplying domestic gas cylinders in the city of Nagpur. In the said meeting, the Food-grains Distribution Officers, Asstt. Sales Manager of BPCL, Senior Regional Manager of HPCL and the Manager of BPCL along with Chief Area Manager of IOCL and other officers of the Oil Companies were present. In the said meeting, the following action-plan has been agreed to be undertaken by the Oil Companies which are supplying domestic gas to the residents of Nagpur City:- [1] To collect daily booking and delivery figures from each distributor and review the same for necessary action. [2] To take up the issue with H.Q. for smooth bulk supplies to plant. [3] To ensure timely release of loads to the distributors as per indents. [4] To give more priority and timely release of loads to local Nagpur distributors. [5] To intensify raids with the help of District Administration to avoid diversion of cylinders for other than domestic purposes. [6] To advise distributors to contact 4 customers randomly to know about the services rendered. [7] To initiate action against delivery boys in case it is noticed that refills are diverted for other than domestic purposes. [8] To supply loads to distributors in line with their genuine demands. [9] To advise the distributors to collect more data about each consumer to arrive at genuine requirement of the consumer. [10] To initiate stringent action against the distributor, if found, creating artificial backlog in the market or making inordinate delay in refill supply. [11] To contact consumers on random basis and collect the data on services being rendered by the distributors. That during festival season, winter season there is possibility of panic booking of the gas cylinders with the concerned distributor and some times due to non-availability of bulk L.P.G., at source and delay in transportation some abbreviations in the supply occurs and for these reasons the number of consumers in the waiting list goes on increasing. However, it would be endeavour of the gas company to ensure regular supply to the customers in such contingencies. 5 7. Under the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 2000, the District Supply Officer has been authorized to take action against erring distributors if any irregularity or a discrepancy in the distribution of domestic gas cylinders is noticed, and the said officer has also been empowered to initiate action against the erring distribution agencies as per the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, in case it is found that the LPG cylinders provided for domestic use are found to be used for commercial or industrial purposes. It is, therefore, clear that if the respondent nos. 4 and 5, or any other Oil company distributing LPG cylinders in Nagpur City would be liable for a criminal action by the District Supply Officer as and when such complaints are received and a prima facie case is found out. 8. When Mr. Gordey was appointed as the Amicus Curiae, he drafted the petition and prayed for :- [a] directions to take action against respondent nos. 4 and 5 for the alleged black-marketing activities under the provisions of Prevention of Black-marketing & Maintenance of Supply of Essential Commodities Act, 1980; [b] to take action against respondent nos. 4 and 5 on the basis of the report and under the provisions of Prevention of Black-marketing & Maintenance of Supply of Essential Commodities Act, 1980, and 6 [c] issue orders to ensure that the residents of North and South Nagpur regularly receive gas cylinders at the rates fixed by the Govt. Oil Companies as per the provisions of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply & Distribution) Order, 1993. 9. So far as taking any action against respondent nos. 4 and 5 is concerned, it is for respondent no.2 to register the complaints if it is noticed or reported in writing that the said respondents are indulging in black-marketing activities. 10. This petition has been dealt with mainly on the aspect of regular supply of gas cylinders to the consumers by the Oil Companies as per the provisions of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply & Distribution) Order, 1993 and the actions proposed to be taken in the joint meeting held on 12th November, 2008, and in the composite action-plan of all the three Companies submitted to respondent no.2 on 2nd December, 2008, the above mentioned steps have been proposed by way of an action plan. We are satisfied that on the aspects of regular supply of gas cylinders, respondent no.2 has taken due steps to work out, in co- ordination with all the three oil Companies and their distributors, a plan to ensure that the LPG cylinders are supplied in time and subject, however, to the availability of such supply from the Oil Companies. 7 11. On the aspects of black-marketing, it is for the consumers to file a criminal complaint as and when such instances are noticed, or to bring such instances to the attention of the District Supply Officer so as to take further action as per law. Even in the action plan, as proposed by the respondent no.2, it has been stated that steps will be initiated for stringent action against the distributors if found creating artificial backlog in the market or deliberately causing inordinate delay in the refill supplies. It has also been agreed to contact consumers on random sample basis and collect the data on service being rendered by the distributors. We are sure, as and when such complaints are brought to the attention of respondent no.2, he will take timely steps and initiate complaint proceedings within a period of two weeks or so, if a prima facie case has been made out for filing such a complaint. 12. Having regard to the affidavits-in- Reply filed from time to time and the last reply filed on 8th December, 2008 by the District Supply Officer, Nagpur, we are satisfied that the proposed steps by respondent no.2 would go a long way in ensuring regular supply of gas cylinders and also in arresting the complaints of alleged irregularities or black-marketing activities. We are, therefore, satisfied that the petition has served its purpose and by noting down the undertaking as well as action plan placed before us by the District Supply Officer, it would be appropriate that the 8 petition is disposed off. 13. By noting down the undertaking of the District Supply Officer in terms of his affidavit dated 8th December, 2008, we dispose off the petition. JUDGE JUDGE |hedau|