Allahabad High Court M/S Chaudhary Filling Point,Kazipur ... vs State Of U.P. Thru Prin.Secy.Food & ... on 30 January, 2019 Equivalent citations: AIRONLINE 2019 ALL 338 HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH Reserved Case : MISC. BENCH No. 27043 of 2018 Petitioner : M/S Chaudhary Filling Point,Kazipur Thru Its Prop. And Anr. Respondent : State Of U.P. Thru Prin.Secy.Food & Civil Supplies And 4 Ors Counsel for Petitioner : Upendra Nath Mishra Counsel for Respondent : C.S.C.,A.S.G.,Manish Jauhari Hon'ble Dr. Devendra Kumar Arora,J. Hon'ble Alok Mathur,J. Heard Sri Upendra Mishra, learned Counsel for the petitioner and Sri Manish Jauhari, Counsel for the Indian Oil Corporation as well as learned Standing Counsel. Petitioner, who was a retail petrol pump dealer of Indian Oil Corporation Limited [ in short referred to as the ''IOCL'] has filed the instant writ petition questioning the correctness and validity of the order dated 14.6.2018 passed by the Executive Director (Retail) Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Mumbai (opposite party no.3) dismissing the appeal preferred by the petitioner against the order dated 14.7.2017 whereby the dealership of the petitioner was terminated. In short, the facts of the case are that M/s Chaudhary Filling Point is a proprietorship firm of which petitioner no.2 Shamshad Ali Chaudhary is the proprietor. It is said that the petitioner was alloted a Retail Outlet/Petrol Pump dealership (KSK) at Kazipur, district Barabanki and in furtherance of the same, a dealership agreement was executed between the petitioner and IOCL on 12.9.2012. The dealership agreement dated 12.9.2012 was for a period of five years with effect from 30.5.2012 and continued thereafter with regular extensions. It has been pointed out that in order to ensure that the oil marketing companies work in a systematic manner, the Government of India has issued/ promulgated Marketing Discipline Guidelines (MDG), 2012 with effect from 8.1.2013 which have been made applicable on all public sector oil marketing companies in order to provide for standards/procedure which are to be adopted by the Oil Marketing Companies and the Retail Outlets/Petrol Pump in daily/regular operations. These executive instructions are to be followed mandatorily and any violation thereof either by the Oil Marketing Companies or the retail outlets is impermissible. According to the petitioner, there were three Dispensing Units installed at the petitioner's Petrol Pump. One unit is of Midco Company which dispenses Petrol while the other two units i.e. one of L & T company and other Double Nozzle unit of Gilbarco company dispenses diesel. During the monthly visit, the Service Engineer of L & T and Gilbarco, one Shri Kapil Jain inspected the Dispensing Units. The said Engineer certified that the Dispensing Unit of L & T Machine is working properly and all the seals pertaining to the said machines are intact. So far as the Gilbarco Double Nozzle Machine is concerned, one of its Nozzle was not functioning properly and therefore, the petitioner had registered an online complaint with Gilbarco, which was attended by the Service Engineer of the Gilbarco, who rectified/repaired and furnished a report in this behalf on 2.6.2017. It is said that on the same day i.e. 2.6.2017, a joint inspection team comprising officers of the District Supply Office, Senior Inspector ( W & M), Hindustan Petroleum Officials and Engineers of equipments manufacturers inspected the Petrol Pump of the petitioner and after examining all the three dispensing units, prepared an inspection report, which reads as under: " fujh{k.k fVIi.kh fnukad & 02062017 izfr"Bku@iIi dk & es0 pkS/kjh fQfyax IokbUV KSK dkthiqj fyksdiqj ckjkcadhA izksijkbVj@izca/kd dk uke& 'ke'kkn vyh pkS/kjh@f'kocju ;kno ¼izca/kd½ iEi ij LFkkfir fMLiasflax ;wfuV dh la[;k& 03 ftykf/kdkjh egksn;] ckjkcadh ds vkns'k la0 ¼91½ fnukad 03052017 ds vuqikyu esa xfBr tkWp Vhe }kjk mi;qZDr iEi@izfr"Bku ij LFkkfir fMLisaflx ;wfuVks dk fujh{k.k fd;k x;k tks fd fuEuor gS% fMLisaflx ;wfuV fooj.k fujh{k.k fooj.k According to the petitioner, bare perusal of the inspection report dated 2.6.2017 reveals that the Joint Inspection Team did not find any short selling of petroleum products. However, in the Midco and Gilbarco Dispensing Units, the pulsar card has been alleged to be containing an extra wire/soldering marks, but to the utter surprise and in sheer violation of clauses 5.1.4 and 8.5.2 of the MDG, the independent opinion of OEM was not obtained and the dealership was terminated solely on assumption and presumptions, which is highly arbitrary and shows the colourable exercise of powers. It has also been urged that so far as the totalizer seal of L & T is concerned, the same can be said to have been tampered as per