Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Civil Appeal Nos. 8739/2003 and 8740/2003 relate to civil writ petition No. 24966/2001 disposed of by a Division Bench of Allahabad High Court, while, Civil Appeal Nos. 8742/2003, 8741/2003, 8737/2003 relate to civil writ petition No. 18104/2002, which was disposed of following the view expressed in the other writ petition. The dispute relates to eligibility of appellants to be selected for dealership in petroleum products.

2. Factual controversy lies in a narrow compass and is as follows:

In both writ petitions challenge was to the selection of the appellants in Civil Appeal Nos. 8737/2003 and 8739/2003 for retail dealership of Indian Oil Corporation Limited (in short ‘IOC’) at different places. The appellants and writ-petitioners in the writ petitions before the High Court were applicants for dealership and distributionship of various petroleum products. Challenge to the selection was on the ground that the selected persons were not eligible for selection on several grounds. One of the grounds highlighted was that their relatives already hold letters of intent for dealership or distributionship of MS/HSD/Kerosene/LDO/LPG of another or same public sector o