( 1 ) THE question before this Court in Common Cause v. Unon of India and others, Writ Petition (C) No. 26/95 was whether the allotmnts of retail ortlets for petroleum products (Petrol Pumps) were illegal and as such liable to be quashed. This Court by the judgment dated 25/09/1996 (reported in 1996 AIR SCW 3696) came to the conclusion that the allotments made by Captain Satish Sharma were arbitrary, discriminatory, mala fide, wholly illegal and as such were liable to be quashed. This Court reached the said findings on the following reasoning :

"all the 15 allotments - discussed above - have been made by the Minister in a stereotyped manner. The application have not been officially received by the Petroleum Ministry. There is no receipt - entry on any of the application. The applicants seem to have approached the Minister directly. None of the application have been dealt with in any of the branches of the Ministry. There is nothing on the record to indicate that the Minister kept any criteria in view while making the allotments. How the appellants came to know about the availability of the petrol pumps is not known. No advertisement was made to invite the applications. There is noth