Jerry Joseph vs The State Of Kerala
2022 Latest Caselaw 8558 Ker

                IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
                                PRESENT
                   THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE V.G.ARUN
     WEDNESDAY, THE 6TH DAY OF JULY 2022 / 15TH ASHADHA, 1944
                        WP(C) NO. 21222 OF 2022
PETITIONER/S:

          JERRY JOSEPH
          AGED 39 YEARS
          S/O JOSEPH THOMAS PALLIKKUNNEL, KOOMBARA KOOMBARABAZAR,
          KOODARANJI KOZHIKODE.
          BY ADVS.
          R.SUNIL KUMAR
          A.SALINI LAL


RESPONDENT/S:

    1     THE STATE OF KERALA
          REP BY THE ADDL. CHIEF SECRETARY KERALA PUBLIC WORKS
          DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-
          695001.
    2     KERALA PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
          REP BY THE PROJECT DIRECTOR KERALA STATE TRANSPORT
          PROJECT JAGAD BUILDINGS, KOWDIAR P.O
          THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695003.
    3     THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER
          PWD ROADS DIVISION KOZHIKODE-673002.
    4     THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR,
          KOZHIKODE DIST COLLECTORATE, KOZHIKODE-673020.
    5     BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LIMITED
          REP BY ITS CHIEF REGIONAL MANAGER ERNAKULAM TERRITORY,
          IRIMPANAM INSTALLATION IRIMPANAM, KOCHI-682309.
OTHER PRESENT:

          GP P.S.APPU


     THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
06.07.2022, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C) NO. 21222 OF 2022
                                  2

                     JUDGMENT

Dated this the 6th day of July, 2022

The writ petition is filed seeking a direction to the 4th

respondent to issue No Objection Certificate for the Retail

Petroleum Outlet proposed to be started in petitioner's

property, without insisting on compliance of the IRC-12-

2016 norms, as well as Exts.P4 and P5 Government Orders.

2. According to the petitioner, the 4th respondent is

refusing to issue NOC for the reason that the petitioner's

Fuel Outlet does not satisfy the IRC/MoRTH norms and

relevant Government Orders issued by the 1st respondent.

3. Learned Counsel for the petitioner pointed out that

this Court has decided a batch of similar writ petitions, by

relying on the decision in Thommachan Jacob v. State of

Kerala [2021 (4) KLT 756]. Therein, this Court had

quashed the Government Orders dated 10.02.2020 and

16.10.2020 and declared the insistance on production of

NOC from PWD for granting NOC by the District

authorities, as null and void. The directions in WP(C) NO. 21222 OF 2022

Thommachan Jacob, contained in Paragraph 54 of the

judgment, are as under:-

"54. In view of the findings and conclusions made hereinabove, this Court find it unnecessary to decide other issues agitated in these writ petitions. The writ petitions filed by Oil Marketing Companies and their Franchisees are therefore allowed with the following orders/directions:

(i) Ext.P2 and P4 Government Orders and the Guidelines for Access Permission to Fuel Stations along State Highways (SH) and Major District Roads (MDR) approved as per Ext.P4 are set aside;

(ii) Orders of the District Authorities rejecting the applications for NOC under Rule 144 of the Petroleum Rules, 2002 submitted by the petitioners/the respective Oil Marketing Companies for non-compliance of Ext.P2 or P4 Guidelines, are set aside.

(iii) In those writ petitions where District Authorities have granted NOC subject to the condition of producing NOC from PWD, the said condition is declared as null and void.

(iv) The District Authorities concerned are directed to consider / re-consider the applications submitted by the petitioners for NOC under Rule 144 of the Petroleum Rules, 2002 without regard to Exts.P2 and P4 and in accordance with the Rules prevailing as on the dates of WP(C)No.4945/2022 4 the applications, within a period of two months.

(v) The petitioners will be at liberty to cure any other defects in their applications or pointed out in the orders of rejection of their applications, in the WP(C) NO. 21222 OF 2022

meanwhile.

Exhibits P2 and P4 referred to above are Exts.P4 and P5

herein.

The writ petition is disposed of, directing the 4th

respondent to consider the application submitted by the 5th

respondent, seeking of NOC for the proposed Fuel Station,

in accordance with paragraph 54 referred above. A final

decision on the application shall be taken within one month

of receipt of a copy of this judgment.

Sd/-

V.G.ARUN JUDGE

RK WP(C) NO. 21222 OF 2022

APPENDIX OF WP(C) 21222/2022

PETITIONER EXHIBITS Exhibit P1 COPY OF THE OFFER LETTER ISSUED BY THE 5TH RESPONDENT TO THE PETITIONER DATED 25/10/2019.

Exhibit P2 COPY OF THE APPLICATION FILED BY THE 5TH RESPONDENT FOR GETTING NOC TO THE OUT LET AWARDED TO THE PETITIONER DATED 29/1/2022.

Exhibit P3 COPY OF THE G.O (M.S) NO: 46/2019/PWD DATED 22/10/2019.

Exhibit P4 COPY OF THE G.O (MS) NO: 16/2020/PWD DATED 10/2/20.

Exhibit P5 COPY OF THE RELEVANT PAGES OF G.O(M.S)NO: 67/2020/PWD DATED 16/10/2020.

Exhibit P6 COPY OF THE JUDGMENT OF W.P(C) NO:

4945/2022 DATED 15.2.22.