IMPORTANT POINT
Exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.

JUDGMENT

P. Sathasivam, J.-Leave granted.

2. This appeal is filed against the final judgment and order dated 06.04.2011 passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in Writ Appeal No. 464 of 2011 whereby the Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the appellant herein.

3. Brief Facts:

(a) On 27.12.2007, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., a Public Sector Oil Company engaged in refining of crude oil and marketing of various petroleum products (in short “the Corporation”)-Respondent No. 2 herein invited applications for grant of LPG distributorship for Edavanna, Malappuram District, Kerala, a distributorship reserved for Scheduled Caste applicants. In total, 41 persons including the appellant and respondent Nos. 1 and 3 herein applied for the grant of licence for the same.

(b) The Corporation, after conducting interviews and evaluating the merits and demerits of the candidates as per the procedure prescribed under the guidelines for the selection of Bharatgas Distributors, selected the appellant herein for grant of licence of LPG distributorship and issued him a Letter of Intent dated 25.06.2009.

(c) Challenging the genuineness of the experience certificates produced by the appellant herein, Shri N.K. Santhosh-Respondent No.1 herein filed a petition being W.P.(C) No. 7622 of 2010 before the High Court of Kerala. Learned single Judge of the High Court, by judgment dated 16.03.2011, allowed the petition and quashed the distributorship granted to the appellant herein.

(d) Against the said judgment, the appellant herein filed a Writ Appeal being No. 464 of 2011 before the High Court. The Division Bench of the High Court, by impugned judgment dated 06.04.2011, dismissed the said appeal.

(e) Aggrieved by the said judgment, the appellant has filed this appeal by way of special leave before this Court.

4. Heard Mr. V. Giri, learned senior counsel for the appellant and Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury, learned counsel for respondent No.1 and Mr. Vikram Ganguly, learned counsel for respondent No.2-Corporation. None appeared for respondent No.3.

5. It is the claim of the appellant that the Corporation, after conducting interviews and evaluating the merits and demerits of the candidates as per the procedure prescribed under the guidelines for selection of Bharatgas Distributors, selected him for grant of licence of LPG distributorship for Edavanna, Malappuram District, Kerala. It is also pointed out that as per the tabulation sheet, the appellant had scored highest marks than the other candidates with reference to qualification, experience, age, business ability and personality and was placed in the first position whereas Respondent No.3 herein was placed in the second and respondent No.1 herein was placed in the third position.

6. Respondent No.1 herein, who is working in the Kerala State Electricity Board as Assistant Engineer, challenged the selection of the appellant herein before the High Court of Kerala by filing a petition being W.P.(C) No. 7622 of 2010 alleging the genuineness of the experience certificates (Exh. Nos. P2 and P3) produced by him and awarding of more marks on the basis of the same. He further claimed that the Selection Committee ought to have preferred his application for LPG distributorship. Learned single Judge allowed the said writ petition holding that the experience certificates submitted by the appellant appear to be totally unacceptable as the appellant while studying M.Tech could not have been possible to work as part-time Marketing Manager and an Insurance Consultant. On this ground, the learned single Judge quashed the grant of licence of LPG distributorship to the appellant and directed the Corporation to re-assess his marks afresh excluding the marks for the experience certificates. The very same decision was affirmed by the Division Bench of the High Court.

7. In order to ascertain the correctness of the decision of the Selection Committee, the order of the learned single Judge set