Sanjay Kumar Jha vs Prakash Chandra Chaudhary

3. On 19.8.2011, Indian Oil Corporation issued an advertisement in, inter alia, the Dainik Jagran, Patna inviting applications for different Kisan Seva Kendra (Retail Outlet) dealerships in respect of diesel, petrol, lubricant oils etc., at different locations. One of the retail outlets being the retail outlet in respect of which the writ petition being CWJ Case No. 2019 of 2015 was filed, was to be located on Falka Gerabari Road, within one kilometer from Giriyama Chowk, Giriyama in Katihar District in Bihar, and is hereinafter referred to, for convenience, as the Giriyama retail outlet.

6. It appears that a panel of three candidates was prepared in which the appellant Sanjay Kumar Jha was placed on the first position and the respondent Prakash Chandra Chaudhary in the second position. The appellant Sanjay Kumar Jha was awarded 90.73 marks and the respondent Prakash Chandra Choudhary was awarded 89.93 marks.

7. The Giriyama retail outlet was allotted to the first empanelled candidate being the appellant Sunil Kumar Jha. Challenging the allotment, the respondent Prakash Chandra Chaudhary filed a writ petition in the High Court Judicature at Patna being CWJ Case No. 2019 of 2015.

15. In any case, even assuming that the respondent Prakash Chandra Chaudhary had erroneously been awarded zero, the order of the learned Single Bench does not disclose the process of reasoning for arriving at the conclusion that the re- spondent Prakash Chandra Chaudhary had become the candi- date with the highest marks. There was no reason to as- sume that the respondent Prakash Chandra Chaudhary would have to be awarded marks that would make him rank first in the panel, when the total marks were 4 and one Md. Mojibur Rahman, the third empaneled candidate had been awarded 4 out of 4, while the appellant Sanjay Kumar Jha had been awarded 2.14. The records reveal that the land of the appel- lant Sanjay Kumar Jha measuring 0.29 acres was within 50 meters from Giriyama chowk on Falka Gerabadri Road whereas the land of Prakash Chandra Chaudhary measuring 0.13 acres was located at a distance of 800 meters from Giriyama chowk. The land of the appellant Sanjay Kumar Jha was larger in area. Of course, these observations are not to be construed as any factual finding of this Court, that the land 7 of respondent Prakash Chandra Chaudhary was within Giriyama.

17. Being aggrieved by the judgment and order dated 8.3.2016 of the learned Single Bench the Indian Oil Corpora- tion filed an appeal therefrom, being Letters Patent Appeal No.855 of 2016, which has been dismissed by the order dated 24.4.2017 of the Division Bench under appeal in these ap- peals filed by the appellant, Sanjay Kumar Jha, and the Indian Oil Corporation respectively.

19. In exercise of discretionary power of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution, the High Court might interfere with administrative matters only if the decision is violative of fundamental or basic principles of justice and fair play or suffers from any patent or flagrant error. It is true that the High Court might rectify, in exercise of its power of judicial 9 review, an error of law or even an error of fact, for sufficient reasons, if the error breaches fundamental or basic principles of justice or fair play or if the error is patent and/or flagrant, but not otherwise. However, even in cases where the High Court finds an apparent factual error which goes to the root of the decision, the appropriate course of action would be to give the opportunity to the authority concerned to rectify the error. It is only in the rarest of cases, where the factual error is so obvious that it is rectifiable by the Court itself, that the Court might, to prevent delay and consequential denial and/or miscarriage of justice, rectify the error.

23. Accordingly, the appeals are allowed. The judgment and order under appeal as well as the judgment and order of the 11 Single Bench are set aside and the writ petition is dismissed. The parties shall bear their respective costs.