PM clean-up order faces the legal test

Whatever its legal defence, the Government will be hampered by its own refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing in the allotments it has decided to cancel.

The Government will also be hard pressed to counter the doctrine of estoppel being cited by petitioners: Since they claim to have invested about Rs 25-30 lakhs to set up petrol pumps or gas agencies, the doctrine of estoppel bars the Government from cancelling the allotments at this stage without giving any chance to the petitioners to defend their case.

Not surprisingly, the petitioners—over 70 in Rajasthan—contended that they had been made allotments purely on merit and that the Government cannot cancel genuine allotments by a sweeping order. The courts responded sympathetically to their grievance that the cancellation decision was taken without giving a hearing to the affected dealers.

The Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan high court directed that ‘‘no allotment would be cancelled in Rajasthan without giving proper hearing to the allottees’’ while the Jodhpur bench forbade the Government to take any steps adverse to the interest of the allottees ‘‘without giving an opportunity of hearing.’’

The Delhi high court, while seeking the Government’s explanation, directed that ‘‘status quo’’ should be maintained with regard to a woman allotted a petrol pump in the Capital under the open general category and a disabled ex-serviceman in Bareilly allotted an LPG agency.

Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik avoided the controversial issue from the agenda of the parliamentary consultative committee last night saying that the government had no role in the allotments.

‘‘The whole process of selection of dealers is a matter between the concerned oil company and the Dealer Selection Board (DSB). The government does not come into the picture at any stage except in case of inquiries against chairman and the members of the DSB,’’ Naik said in his opening speech.

However, before he could finish speaking, CPM MP A. Vijaya Raghavan walked out of the meeting in protest saying that the minister had broken the trust reposed in him by the committee. Other members raised the issue of favouritism in allotment and sought to know how the ministry proposed to cancel dealerships of genunine allottees without inviting intervention of courts.

Some sought review of similar allotments made since 1983 when DSBs were first constituted.

The committee meeting was held to discuss the performance of the public sector oil undertakings during 2001-2002.