Item No.47
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B. VIJAYSEN REDDY
W.A. No.307 OF 2021
JUDGMENT: (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Hima Kohli)
1. The present appeal has been filed by the appellants/Indian Oil
Corporation (for short 'IOC') (respondents in W.P. No.16825 of
2020) being aggrieved by an interim order dated 28.09.2020 passed in W.P.No.16825 of 2020 filed by the respondent/writ petitioner challenging the advertisement issued by IOC that prohibits the respondent/writ petitioner from submitting any application for a retail outlet on the ground that he is already operating such an outlet in the State of Telangana.
2. By the impugned order, the respondent/writ petitioner has been permitted to submit an application to the appellants/IOC for providing services in respect of other outlets and the appellants/IOC have been directed to permit him to participate in the selection process, pending disposal of the writ petition.
3. Mr. L. Ravichander, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the appellants/IOC submits that the appellants have filed a vacate stay application for seeking vacation of the impugned order, which has been listed, but no orders have been passed on the said application till date. He states that any exception carved out for the respondent/writ petitioner would have a cascading effect, as the prohibition imposed W.A. No.307 of 2021 Page 1 of 2 in respect of existing operators of retail outlets from applying fresh dealerships of other retail outlets applies to all dealerships in the country.
4. Mr. S. Satyam Reddy, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the respondent/writ petitioner states that he would have no objection if the writ petition is heard and decided on merits, instead of the vacate stay application filed by the appellants/IOC being taken up. He also clarifies that the dealership of the respondent/writ petitioner in respect of the retail outlet expired on 31.10.2020 and as on date, the respondent/writ petitioner is not operating any retail outlet.
5. The aforesaid aspect can only be considered in the writ proceedings, which are still pending.
6. In view of the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, the present appeal is disposed of along with the pending applications, if any, with a direction to the Registry to place the file of W.P.No.16825 of 2020 before the learned Single Judge on 04.08.2021 for fixing an actual date of hearing in the said petition, as pleadings therein are said to be complete.
_________________ HIMA KOHLI, CJ ______________________ B.VIJAYSEN REDDY, J 22.07.2021 KTL W.A. No.307 of 2021 Page 2 of 2