Indian Oil Corporation Limited vs Mr. M Vamshi Krishna
2021 Latest Caselaw 2174 Tel

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

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